Derek Cochrane chats with Bill Highcock and the Chairman at the New Double Locks on our tour of the Canal

At the end of our item (Cuttings 4.6) on the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions Report “Waterways for Tomorrow”, we wrote: “Noting BW’s renewed interest in assisting restoration projects, the SCARS Executive is inviting their Regional Director, Derek Cochrane, to a meeting to discuss the present opportunities for restoration of the Sankey.”
We are very pleased to be able to report that Mr. Cochrane accepted our invitation, and came to listen and look on September 12th.

Over lunch at St. Helens College’s Technology Campus Derek Cochrane outlined the part British Waterways and the Waterways Trust were playing in the various large-scale restoration projects in the region, and Bob Massingham of St. Helens MBC brought us up-to-date on the funding position for the restoration of the Newton Common to Bradley section of the Sankey. Afterwards we went by minibus, via the restored New Double Locks, to inspect that area, and Hey Lock. As reported in an earlier Cuttings, £300,000 of SRB5 money is earmarked for restoring beneath the Earlestown Viaduct, and £20,000 from the European Regional Development Fund has been secured for Hey Lock’s restoration. This is real money, for real restoration, available now, and we were anxious to demonstrate that the restoration of the Sankey has already begun, and to seek BW’s assistance in seeing it through.

At Newton Common we were joined by Executive Member Dave Nilsson, wearing his Environment Agency hat (pictured, right).
The Agency, through the Mersey Basin Campaign and Sankey NOW, has been working to improve the quality of water in the Sankey Valley, and the restoration of the Canal, with a clean water supply, will be a lasting proof of the effectiveness of the clean-up works. In addition, the Agency has a massive task in hand cleaning up the pollution on the former Sankey Sugar Works site, just south of the Earlestown Viaduct. A restored Sankey will enhance the value of that site considerably after its decontamination. Dave was able to explain all this to Derek on the spot, whilst SCARS Members showed off the results of their endeavours at the lock, along with the IWA’s Waterway Recovery Group, over recent years.

From Newton Common we went through Earlestown and Wargrave to Hey Lock. The infilled lock breaks up perhaps the most scenic section of the Sankey - with the wooded Red Bank to the east, and the Sankey Brook and open farmland to the west, it is as nice a bit of canal as you’ll see anywhere on the system. Restoring this lock would provide us with an excellent stretch of water upon which to run regular trips, showing the beauty of the waterway, and increasing interest in opening up further navigable stretches. We report elsewhere on our progress towards achieving this. Having impressed Derek Cochrane with this gem, nestling almost in the shadow of the famous Vulcan Engineering Works’ water tower, we retraced our steps to St. Helens for final thanks and farewells.

Immediately after this meeting, our Chairman wrote to the Chief Executives of British Waterways, Dave Fletcher, and of the Waterways Trust, Roger Hanbury, describing the successful visit, and urging them to consider the Sankey as a rising priority in their list of future projects in the region. Mr. Fletcher has responded by asking for arrangements to be made for himself and his Operations Director, Stewart Sim, to visit the Sankey. We hope to finalise this in the very near future.