DIGEST OF NEWS FROM The PRESS RELEASES of
THE INLAND WATERWAYS ASSOCIATION (IWA)

IWA prides itself on its response to applications for restoration grants. A review of IWA grants over the past 3 years shows that 80% of applicants have been successful in receiving an award. 32 grants in all have been made over this period although the amounts awarded are usually rather less than applied for. IWA's Restoration Committee is disappointed with the number of applications and would welcome more in future.

IWA welcomes the award of World Heritage status to 2 sites associated with canals. The first is the Saltaire complex alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, comprising the mill, worker's houses and public buildings. The other is the Derwent Valley Mills, which were served by the Cromford Canal. These mills were one of the first built during the industrial revolution and were the model for later mills in this country and abroad. The Chairman of English Heritage, Sir Neill Cossons, launched a bid for World Heritage status centred on Castlefields in Manchester at the Science and Industry Museum in December. The Site will encompass the Rochdale and Bridgewater Canals, the Castlefields basin and canal side complexes at Ancoats, Castlefields, Barton and Worsley.

IWA has done some sabre rattling on behalf of the Shropshire Union Canal Society. Planned road works at Maerdy Bridge Junction on the Montgomery Canal threatened to obstruct overhead clearance and would necessitate a new pair of drop locks and pound underpass. IWA's consultant engineer drew up an alternative scheme, which was submitted to the National Assembly of Wales Directorate, which decided are to review the proposals, with a view to resolving the traffic problem without upsetting future boaters. Elsewhere on the Montgomery, the Newhouse Lock Restoration Project has benefited from a £10,000 IWA grant. Total project cost is forecast at £110,000, with volunteer labour accounting for one third of the total.

Work continues apace on the Rochdale Canal. Smithy Bridge was re-opened on 10th December after 9 month's closure. Waterway clearance below the bridge has now commenced. However, objections to the Compulsory Purchase Orders needed for the M62 crossing are now causing a delay. The BW scheme involves a new lock South of the M62, which allows the canal to divert under the Motorway through an existing underpass. BW has also devised a scheme for getting around the A627 (M) blockage at Edinburgh Way, Rochdale. All 16 remaining contracts to complete restoration are now under way. The £25 million project includes 12 new main road bridges, 24 locks, almost a kilometre of new channel and 50,000 cubic metres of dredging. Completion in July this year may not quite hit schedule. [Ed: Although out-of-date this item is interesting all the same! It shows that despite the obstacles and the size of the task BW achieved its target, and are to be congratulated.]

Euphoria over canal restoration reaches fever pitch when BW announced its commitment to 7 further restoration and two new canal schemes. IWA endorses the announcement, which amounts to over 100 miles of waterways. The 9 projects are as follows:-

• Bedford to Milton Keynes Waterway, a new link from the Grand Union to the River Great Ouse at Bedford.
• Bow Back Rivers, a network around Stratford, East London.
• Cotswold Canals, from the River Severn to the Thames at Lechlade, 37 miles including Sapperton Tunnel, the longest broad canal tunnel in the UK.
• Droitwich Canals, restoring the River Severn to Droitwitch link, the Droitwitch Junction Canal, and re-opening a 21 mile cruising ring.
• Foxton inclined plane, the only plane on a UK navigable waterway.
• The Leeds and Liverpool Canal extension to the Albert Dock, a new canal set to become a major tourist attraction.
• Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, linking the River Irwell at Salford to Bolton and Bury.
• Montgomery Canal, completing restoration from Newton in Powys to the Shropshire Union Canal.
• Northern Reaches of the Lancaster Canal, extending the Canal 14 miles to Kendal.

Extracted by George Bruce

Index for this issue     Index of all Canal Cuttings issues      Home Page

Site design and content © 2002 - 2005 Sankey Canal Restoration Society
Site design by Phil D.Long