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The Mersey Basin Campaign worked within the catchments of the River Mersey and the River Ribble, in the counties of Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire and in the High Peak area of Derbyshire in the UK. Its primary goal was to repair the damage done by industrialisation and to foster a modern and prosperous future, with an improved environment.
The campaign's mission was to:
The Mersey Basin Campaign was established in 1985 in the wake of the Toxteth riots in Liverpool. Michael Heseltine, then Environment Minister in Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, was the driving force behind its creation. He spoke of the River Mersey at the time as "an affront to the standards a civilised society should demand from its environment". It closed its doors on schedule at the end of its planned 25-year lifespan in 2010, leaving behind a river system that is cleaner now than at any time since the Industrial Revolution.
The Mersey Basin Campaign was a partnership backed by the UK Government through the sponsorship of the Department for Communities and Local Government. It was also supported by businesses, local authorities and public agencies.
The campaign worked through two bodies: the Mersey Basin Business Foundation and the Healthy Waterways Trust. The Foundation was responsible for business and administrative tasks, as well as much of the campaign's finances, whilst the Healthy Waterways Trust is a charitable body whose main role was to administer the campaign's charitable funds. The campaign was overseen by its council, which had around 30 members drawn from various public and private sector partners. The Healthy Waterways Trust remains in existence following the end of the Campaign, and continues to advocate for improved water quality and waterside regeneration in the Northwest of England.
The Campaign's last Chair was Peter Batey, Lever Professor of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Liverpool, who served from 2004–2010.
The Mersey Basin Campaign worked with communities on local projects around the North West of England through a network of action partnerships.
Action Partnerships:
Action Bollin
Action Darwen Valley
Action Glaze
Action Irwell
Action Manchester Waterways
Action Mersey Estuary
Action Ribble Estuary
Action Rossendale Rivers
Action Upper Weaver
Action Weaver Valley
Action Wirral Rivers
Action Worsley Brooks
From March 2010 until March 2015, an archive of information, resources and documents relating to the Campaign's work will be available at:
British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland and Wales.
The River Mersey is a river in the North West of England. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon language and translates as "boundary river". The river may have been the border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria and for centuries it formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire.
The River Douglas, also known as the River Asland or Astland, is a river that flows through Lancashire and Greater Manchester in the north-west of England. It is a tributary of the River Ribble and has itself several tributaries, the major ones being the River Tawd and the River Yarrow.
The Manchester Ship Canal is a 36-mile-long (58 km) inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary near Liverpool, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift vessels about 60 feet (18 m) to the canal's terminus in Manchester. Landmarks along its route include the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the world's only swing aqueduct, and Trafford Park, the world's first planned industrial estate and still the largest in Europe.
The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Worsley to Manchester, and later extended from Manchester to Runcorn, and then from Worsley to Leigh.
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