It was a lovely, sunny, mild day yesterday. Having not been out for a few days, we decided to take a walk down the line with Suzy, our new pup of 4 months. Hilden Village is coming on well, with all the houses in Bridge Street occupied. Mill Street looks to be nearly finished too. Hilden itself has been brought back to life again, like Phoenix rising from the ashes. Hilden Mill still looms above everything and I wonder what is going to be done about this ruin of a once thriving mill. It is very close to some of the houses, and I assume planning permission thought it safe enough if the mill is to be demolished at some time. We met a Low Roader who told us that Hilden School is to be made into 3 or 4 units, but he didn't know what they would be used for. We headed onto the towpath and I must say I was shocked at the state of the Lagan. From Hilden Bridge onwards, it is completely covered with weeds, worse than I ever saw before. These weeds stretch right up to McPolin's Locks and beyond. We saw a beautiful, regal swan in the middle of the weeds and my worst fears were confirmed when the same local told us it had been trapped there for 3 months. He feeds it daily with crumbs of bread. He told us there were 2 more swans further up and that one had a broken wing. I'm going to phone the RSPB and the Council this morning. Failing that, I'll get on to our local MP. However, Dominic says that I'll be wasting my time as there's no money for these things. I suspect he's correct but it won't stop me trying. I did enjoy the walk, despite the sad state of the Lagan and the cyclists.

Ann
I heard that the Housing Trust bought those houses as there was little or no interest from potential home buyers and not all are rented to locals
donald

Hi Ann,

Protection of wild life here is a big thing, I applaud your efforts for sticking to your plan. Maybe you could also try International Wildlife and Conservation and see what they say. Good luck.

Beano

Donald & Beano, I got a phone call back from an official of the Council in Belfast. He told me he would be getting onto Lisburn Council; however, he did waffle on about money being tight. I pointed out that the state of the Lagan was also a Health & Safety issue. Children could be tempted to try and walk on these weeds as they look so solid, but underneath lies a deep, dark and treacherous river. I haven't received any phone calls from Lisburn Council yet, but I'll let you know what happens. Sad state of affairs, especially for the beautiful swans who can do nothing about their plight.

Hi Ann about the towpath Belfast and Lisburn councils have nothing to do with the towpath the people you are looking for are the rivers agency on the old hillsborough road

Anna, thanks for looking in. As a matter of fact, a Rivers yellow vehicle was on the towpath on the day we were down. I stopped the van and spoke to the driver about the state of the river. His reply, with a grin, was, "All it needs is a good flood".!!!!!!!

Since ten I have had e mails from the Council and Wildlife Protecction, who say they are "looking into the matter".

Ann,


Get on to Buckingham Palace, the swans are the Queen,s property ,she will make a call as an animal lover.

Pat

Ann,

10 OUT 10 for your efforts regarding the Swan and the state of the Lagan....Way to go. Pat on her post, suggested the Queen, good idea, as Philip has just retired as President of the World Wild Life protection association.

Beano

This is the reply I received re my complaints about the Lagan.

Re: River Lagan at Hilden.

"Thank you for your e mail received by this office dated 19th October 2017 regarding the above. From a drainage aspect my comments are as follows.

The River Lagan is designated under the terms of Drainage (NI) Order 1973 which is on a watercourse programme. Any maintenance carried out by the department is only done to ensure the free flow of water within the waterourse. The area in which you speak of is part of the disused canal and is therefore outside the department's remit.

As the disused canal is not designated the maintenance responsibility lies solely with the riparian land owners".

It's a case of "pass the buck". No mention of the swans either.

Such a pity,a beautiful stretch from Lisburn to Shaw,s Bridge walk. The disused canal with the Overfalls (which were gushing merrily last wend) deserves to be cleaned too.

Maybe concerned young people or an organiser would volunteer to work on it. Happens to old waterways here for tourist purposes.


Pat