Government grant for new canal link

LAFARGE Aggregates are to receive a £2.3 million government grant for the construction of new handling facilities to transport aggregates by river and canal from Nottinghamshire to the heart of West Yorkshire.

Most of the Freight Facility Grant provided by DETR will be used to build a new wharf and depot at Whitwood on the Aire and Calder canal at the Wakefield Europort development. The wharf will unload barges carrying processed sand and gravel from Lafarge’s existing quarry alongside the river Trent at Besthorpe in north Nottinghamshire.

"As part of the project, a new dispatch conveyor will be built at Besthorpe and two barges will be purchased and operated by Lafarge to supplement the use of independently owned barges. The fleet is expected to transfer up to 250,000 tonnes of aggregate a year, saving over 25,000 lorry journeys."

"The application for the grant was put together by project managers W.A. Fairhurst & Partners, with the assistance of British Waterways. John Mowlem and Co. plc have been awarded the construction contract for the Wakefield site where work has just started, with completion scheduled for the summer."

"Lafarge Aggregates’ deputy managing director, Dyfrig James, said: ‘It is great news to receive such tremendous backing from DETR for this environmentally beneficial project. We are now looking at further opportunities for waterway transport of our products.’"