was formally adopted as the Fens Waterways Link by the Environment Agency in 2004, with the support of the local authorities, the East Anglian Waterways Association and the Inland Waterways Association. The scheme involved a total of of waterway, of which would be new cruiseway, while the rest would be existing waterways which could be upgraded or have their access improved. When completed, it would connect the Rivers Witham, Glen, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse, and was heralded as the biggest waterway enhancement project in Europe by the Environment Agency. In 2007 they obtained funding for the link between Boston and Spalding. Work on a new lock beside the Black Sluice pumping station at Boston - to connect The Haven and the South Forty-Foot Drain - was formally started on 8 February 2008, and was completed in December 2008, with the official opening ceremony being held on 20 March 2009. The lock project formed phase 1 of the scheme, and the cost of £8.5 million was jointly funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the East Midlands Development Agency, and Lincolnshire County Council. The lock is designed to be used for a period either side of high tide, and so there is a rise from the Drain to the Haven. It has conventional mitre gates at one end, but uses rotating sector gates at the tidal end, each one weighing 12.1 tonnes. The lock opened up nearly of waterway. As part of the upgrade, new 48-hour moorings were constructed on The Haven, for boats about to enter the Drain, and on the South Forty-Foot Drain near the Black Sluice pumping station at Boston, at Swineshead Bridge and at Hubbert's Bridge. The upper limit of navigation was initially Donington High Bridge, where the Swaton Eau joins the South Forty-Foot Drain and provides a wider section where boats can be turned. Beyond the bridge, the drain was officially only suitable for canoes and kayaks. However, eight narrow boats cruised on the waterway at Easter 2009, and although the channel was narrower and not as deep after Donington Bridge, all of them successfully reached Kingston's Bridge, some further on, where the outlets from Dowsby Fen and Gosberton pumping stations provided enough width to turn a boat. Further progress was blocked by scaffolding erected so that the bridge could be re-decked, rather than by lack of water. The drain has been renamed as the