1. Present

2. Apologies

Andrew Deans

Andrew Dismore AM

Beryl Windsor

Councillor Carole Wiliams

Councillor Martin Klute

Councillor Paul Convery

Councillor Paul Tomlinson

Fiona Maclean

Frances Balfour

Jo Murray

Lee Wilshire

Martin Reading

Phil Emery

3. Introductions

4. Bi-centenary celebrations (Camden Town)

4.1 The first part of the Regent's Canal, from Little Venice to Camden Town was opened on 12th August 1816. A cake cutting ceremony took place on Friday 16th August at the Lock Keeper's Cottage and Coluncillor Richard Cotton, Deputy Mayor of Camden, gave a speech.

4.2 This was reported in the Camden New Journal and in Towpath Talk.

4.3 A week prior to this event a special bi-centenary feature was published in the Camden New Journal.

4.4 There was a brief discussion on how we should celebrate the bi-centenary of the completion of the Regent's Canal in August 2020. Jim Crooks suggested that thereshould be series of events over the next four years to mark the construction milestones in addition to the one-off event expected in August 2020.

5. Angel Canal Festival

5.1 The Angel Canal Festival took place on Sunday 4th September. Once again this attracted thousands of visitors to the City Road Basin and surrounding streets and the Friends of Regent's Canal had a stall below Hanover School.

5.2 (to be added: link to Towpath Talk article)

6. Morrisons redevelopment (Camden Town)

6.1 A large redevelopment is being proposed on the Morrisons site near Oval Road and the Friends of Regent's Canal had been selected as stakeholders for early consultation. The proposed buildings will not overlook or encroach on the canal but the developers are looking for opportunities for improving neighbouring amenities.

6.2 Initial ideas have included improving disabled access ramps and conributing to heritage and bi-centenary awareness.

7. Ted Baker redevelopment (St Pancras Way)

7.1 There are proposals to redevelop the site known as the "Big Brown Ugly Building". The Friends of Regent's Canal had been invited to talks with the developers on 8th September but the first planned meeting was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

7.2 This site occupies a long stretch of the canal offside and it would be a seriously missed opportunity if no parts of the frontage are utilised for servicing boats and providing an interchange between road and water.

8. Boat Radio interviews

8.1 The Friends of Regent's Canal have been approached by a radio producer for Boat Radio, a new online radio station/podcast channel dedicated to all things aquatic and nautical. One of the first canal programmes would be a feature on the past, present and future of the Regent's Canal.

8.2 If anybody is interested in taking part in interviews on the towpath (between 25th September and 2nd October) then they should contact James Finlayson (james@boatradio.net) or friendsregentscanal@gmail.com.

9. CRT mooring survey

On 19th September the Canal and River Trust issued a press release about a mooring survey. This survey runs from 19th September to 21st October and its objective is to understand the needs of boaters on Londson's waterways.

10. Development of Regent's Wharf

Presentation by David Coomes (EDCO Design), Christopher D. Cope (Grafton Advisors) and Ewan Graham (Hawkins/Brown)

Details to follow

11. East End Canal Festival and Tower Hamlets Heritage project

Presentation by Carolyn Clark

Details to follow

12. Heritage discussion

Details to follow

13. Mooring capacity

Details to follow

14. Anti-social cycling

Details to follow