Introduction

The Crosscut project is a project running under the INTERREG IIIB North West Europe programme strand. The partnership consists of eight partners from four EU countries (Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and UK), under the leadership of British Waterways (UK).   

Overall the project aims to safeguard and develop the recreational waterway network within the North West Europe area and demonstrate how this can be done in a sustainable way.   

The total value of the Crosscut project is EUR 7.0 million, of which EUR 4.9 million is grant from the EU.  The project will run until the end of 2007.

Many issues need to be taken into account when bringing waterways back into use – engineering solutions for overcoming obstructions; ecological issues; planning and regulatory frameworks.

Crosscut is exploring these and investigating how the network can be restored and extended in a sustainable way. A key finding of the project is the common nature of many of these issues, despite the different national contexts involved. Partners are learning from the shared experience and will bring together common approaches to solve the many problems that arise.

Specific pilot actions undertaken by the partners in the programme will investigate:

• The impacts of recreational boating on canal ecology & biodiversity;
• The ecological restoration and management of canal banks, quay walls and channels;
• The wider corridor development ie. the integration of waterways with the urban and rural areas through which they pass;
• Promotion of the waterways as a tourism and educational resource;
• Community involvement and participation with their local waterways