Applications have also been made to the Environment Agency's Multi-functional pot for smaller environmental improvement schemes.

The SANKEY NOW Project Co-ordinator (myself) is being employed for a further 12 months,

Conservation
The Environment Agency have funded a Natural Asset Register to be compiled on the Sankey Catchment area. The SANKEY NOW Asset Register sub-group has commissioned the environmental consultants TEP (The Environment Practice) to carry out this work. It includes River Habitat Surveys, Landscape Assessments, and Community Consultation throughout the entire Sankey catchment. TEP have now provided SANKEY NOW with a Draft Report, with the final Report being expected in July. It is anticipated that this Asset Register will ultimately provide SANKEY NOW with the basis for an Action Programme for the catchment.

Sankey Sugar Works: Phase 5 of the site remediation programme is currently underway. A video of the works so far, produced by the EA and the Newton 21 SRB Project is available for viewing from SANKEY NOW. Please contact myself.

Community
SANKEY NOW organised a Sport in the Environment event as part of the Mersey Basin Campaign Weekend. A volleyball tournament between Warrington, North West Water/EA, and Sankey Volleyball Clubs took place, alongside pond restoration work at Sankey High School. It was deemed a huge success, and we hope to host it again this year in SANKEY NOW Week.

SANKEY NOW has developed strong links with the Pathways groups in St Helens which have been successful in obtaining funding from the Countryside Commission Millennium Green Project. Parr Hall Millennium Green, the first in Merseyside, is adjacent to the Rainford Brook, which we know has a watervole habitat.

SANKEY NOW Education Sub-group continues to develop a comprehensive Directory of Resources available for schools throughout the catchment, including information on locations suitable for river and heritage studies.

Publicity
The first issue of our quarterly Newsletter - SANKEY NOW NEWS - has been published to publicise our activities.

For more information on Sankey NOW please contact:

In their response to a Questionnaire on local watercourses initiated by Sankey NOW in their endeavours to draw up a Conservation Assets Register, Rainford Parish Council made the following submission:

On a number of occasions concern has been expressed regarding the state of the land drainage in and around Rainford, and the high water level of the Rainford Brook during periods of heavy rain. On many occasions it has been noted that the outlets of a number of the storm water drains from the village have been as much as 60 to 70 cms. below the level of the flood water when the brook has been in full spate.

This problem has been brought about by the progressive erosion that is taking place on the farmlands of the whole area, and by the amount of building development that has taken place in Rainford since the war. More recently, the development of Holiday Moss as a land fill site and the effect that this has had on the Randle Brook needs to be taken into consideration.

The canalisation of the Rainford Brook has been discussed at some length by SCARS as a possible route for joining the Sankey Canal to the main canal system.

We do appreciate that these discussions were outline proposals for a project which could follow the restoration of the Sankey/St Helens Canal. Nevertheless, we do feel that it would be well worth bearing in mind that, if and when this proposal ever comes to fruition, that in addition to the economic advantages and improved leisure facilities that it would undoubtedly bring to the area, it could also form the basis for much-needed improvements to the land drainage of the whole district by providing a reliable means of stabilising, storing and regulating the flow of water from Rainford to the Sankey River.