Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust

Today

The Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust is a thriving diverse organisation promoting the Waterway Park. The majority of our income to achieve this comes from the fantastic work of the volunteers who run and maintain the John Bunyan Community boat consistently one of the top rated tourist activities in the Bedford and Electra Community Boat based on the Grand Union at Campbell Wharf. At Kempston Mill construction of a new landing stage on river Great Ouse for use by John Bunyan community boat and other craft.

Our other current projects include:

• Improving the Head of Navigation at Kempston, dredging the river to improve navigation & constructing a winding point (turning point for boats).

• Undertaking a study with the Environment Agency to asses the benefits for flood & water management.

• Promoting the project as a key environmental project within the Oxford-Cambridge development arc.

2021: Launch of the Electra Community Boat

 The Electra Bunyan Community Boat commissioned by the trust, all-electric volunteer-run 12-seater trip boat based on the Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes. Step aboard for a relaxing cruise on the Grand Union Canal, and experience a different view of the city. Launched in July 2021

Electra is a leading all-electric boat, running over 250 cruises per season, and a real head turner on the lovely Grand Union Canal through Milton Keynes!

Battery and electrical management systems will be enhanced to keep Electra at the forefront of environmentally friendly boat technology in the new city of Milton Keynes.

Electra is operated by Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Enterprise limited on-behalf of the Trust

2013: Launch of the John Bunyan Community Boat

Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Enterprises Limited was established in 2012 to manage the commercial activities of the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust. Its first task was to design and commission a trip boat to cruise the river in Bedford. The John Bunyan Community Boat was built by Colecraft in Warwickshire and launched in July 2013. It is 72 ft long, 10 ft wide and can carry up to 50 passengers at a time. It is crewed and maintained entirely by volunteers and now carries over 7,000 passengers per year. In 2013 it won an award at the Pride of Bedfordshire Awards and has consistently been rated as one of the towns top attractions since.

2010: The B&MK Waterway Consortium formed

The Consortium was formed in May 2010 to take the Waterway forward into the next stages of planning and design. The Consortium is a group of 10 organisations that have agreed to work together to help deliver the Bedford Milton Keynes Waterway Park. Its purpose is to jointly fund key pieces of work and encourage its members to use their powers and resources to support delivery of the Waterway Park acting as ambassadors for the project in their respective spheres. The Consortium normally meets twice a year in the spring and autumn to provide high level governance, oversight and co-ordination of activity.

The consortium consists of: Bedford Borough Council; Central Bedfordshire Council; Milton Keynes Council; Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust; Canal and River Trust; Environment Agency; Forest of Marston Vale Trust; The Milton Keynes Parks Trust; Water Resources East; and Bedford Group of Internal Drainage Boards.

1990s: Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust established

In 1994 Bedford resident, Brian Young, had the vision of completing a canal project which had been abandoned over 100 years previously, to join the Great Ouse in Bedford to the Grand Union Canal. His aim was to get the canal built as part of the celebrations of the new millennium creating a “Waterway for All” – improving the quality of the local environment and serving the new industries of leisure, tourism and communications – in short reinventing canals for the 21st century. Brian founded the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust in 1995 with an informal group of volunteers. In the year 2000 British Waterways started working with the Trust to investigate the feasibility of the project, and in November of that year the Trust became a formal voluntary organisation with a growing, active membership.

1846: The Canal Project is doomed…

During the 1840s railways quickly became essential to the swift movement of goods and labour that was needed for industrialization. In the beginning, canals were in competition with the railways, but the railways quickly gained ground as steam and rail technology improved and railways were built in places where canals were not practical. In 1846 the Bedford to Bletchley Railway was opened and was largely built on the route of the 1812-13 canal. The railway seemed to have sounded the death-knell for further canal development, although in 1892 a company called ”The Ouse River, Canal and Steam Navigation Limited” attempted to acquire the rights of the river and to build a canal between the Ouse and the Grand Junction. There were numerous objections to the proposal which also failed.

1810-12: An idea is born…

The roots of the Bedford-Milton Keynes Canal go back 200 years to 1811 when a group of Bedford businessmen met the Mayor of Bedford to discuss the trade benefits of linking the River great Ouse and the Grand Junction Canal. Local roads were poor and they hoped a canal would lead to greater prosperity for towns along the route.

Samuel Whitbread (MP) and the Duke of Bedford were among the supporters of the scheme. William Praed, chairman of the Grand Junction Canal, was enthusiastic and agreed to fund half of the cost. They commissioned John Rennie, the famous canal engineer, to survey the route. He proposed two options for the new canal, one joining the Grand Junction at Woughton and the other at Soulbury. The costs would be between £140,000 and £180,000. Four possible sites for a reservoir were proposed at an additional cost of £20,000.

1810-12: An idea is born…(part 2)

At the same time a list of landowners who consented or objected to the project was prepared. Henry Hugh Hoare of Wavendon House was clearly leading the opposition to the canal. An opposition meeting was held at Ampthill in 1812. Henry Hoare employed his own engineer, John Holland, to undertake his own survey which was over £100,000 more than Rennie’s. Enthusiasm for the canal began to wane. The Duke of Bedford became disillusioned. It became clear that the canal project was doomed without the financial support of the Grand Junction Company which would not be forthcoming. In early 1815 the creditors were called in and paid off.