Introduction
Action Etherow & Goyt was set up in 1998 to focus on two of the rivers that rise in the moorland areas of the Peak District in Derbyshire. The Etherow and Goyt flow through old textile and mining villages such as Whaley Bridge, Hayfield, Glossop, New Mills and Marple Bridge before reaching Stockport on the outskirts of Manchester. Their confluence with the River Tame in Stockport town centre marks the start of the River Mersey.
Also included in the area are two canals, the Peak Forest and Macclesfield, along with 11 reservoirs that provide drinking water and recreational opportunities.
The rivers pass through a landscape that was transformed by industrialisation. Its many small towns were formerly home to a dense concentration of the textile, printing and dying industries.
Such industries routinely used the Etherow, Goyt and their tributaries as convenient conduits for their waste products. After years of pollution the demise of these industries, together with huge improvements in sewage treatment, has witnessed dramatic improvements in water quality.
The towns and villages of the Etherow and Goyt valleys are now home to growing numbers of people who commute to work in nearby towns and cities. The rivers and the old factories and mills alongside them are now increasingly viewed as ripe for regeneration.
The town of Glossop is currently part of key pilot project for the government’s ‘liveability’ scheme. Community consultation has drawn out issues important to local people to feed into the town’s river management plan.
Action Etherow & Goyt undertakes a wide variety of projects, such as improving the towpath on the Macclesfield Canal and helping the Inland Waterways Protection Society to improve access around the Bugsworth Canal Nature Area in Whaley Bridge.
Contact Details
Mary Lee
Project Co-ordinator
Fourways House
57 Hilton Street
Manchester
M1 2EJ
TEL: 0161 242 8218
FAX: 0161 242 8201
E-mail: m.lee@merseybasin.org.uk
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