Restoration information

Extracted by David Smallshaw from the IWA's monthly Head Office Bulletin, sent free to Association members on request.

Waterway Museums

The Inland Waterways Association (IWA) has pledged its support to the campaign led by The Waterways Trust to gain government funding for the three waterways museums at Gloucester, Ellesmere Port and Stoke Bruerne and for the inland waterways collections housed in the museums.

The Association is inviting its members to support the campaign by writing to their local MP asking him or her to appeal to Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for adequate funding to safeguard the designated inland waterways collection, which is in long-term decline for want of adequate financial support.

IWA believes this is an important cause. The waterways museums have suffered from inadequate funding for many years, and without new funding the nationally and internationally important inland waterways collection is at risk.

The impact of competition from free entry museums means that a critical point has been reached. The Waterways Trust now needs an additional £1.1m per annum for ten years for maintenance of the collection, to address conservation arrears and to enable the museums to offer free entry for all.

The Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port, The National Waterways Museum at Gloucester Docks and The Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne, hold 90% of the UK's inland waterway collection, including the world's largest collection of historic inland waterway craft. Despite being designated as nationally and internationally important, the inland waterways collection receives no direct government funding. By contrast, the National Railway Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the National Coal Mining Museum all receive government subsidy worth between £8 and £19 per visitor and offer free admission. The museums receive sponsorship worth £4.45 per visitor from British Waterways.

Together the waterways museums tell the story, the most complete in the UK, of the waterways and their profound influence on the cultural, social, economic, technological and environmental development of this country over the last 300 years, and provide an extraordinary resource for education and lifelong learning. IWA's archive is based at The Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port. IWA believes that the government should recognise the value and the educational potential of this important collection.

Weed Control on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal

A biological trial to control the fast-growing waterweed Azolla filiculoides on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Aintree has proved sufficiently successful for British Waterways to extend the treatment to other sites afflicted by the destructive fern. The trial has involved thousands of the captive-bred weevils, which have been set to munching through tonnes of the weed on a one-mile stretch of the canal during the first three weeks of October.

This is the first time weevils have been used in canals to try and control the damaging Azolla. Further trials are due to be undertaken over the rest of this growing season. Without control, Azolla can shade out other indigenous plants and reduce the oxygen levels in the water, harming fish and aquatic life and causing the water to smell. The thick mat of Azolla that had grown up on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was also a hazard for boats, children and animals - misleading them into thinking that it was firm ground rather than water.

The weevils offer an environmentally friendly solution to the problem plant. Alternative methods of control are either mechanical - harvesting the weeds with buckets which is usually only effective in the short term - or using herbicides which have environmental disadvantages.

Azolla was introduced into England from the Americas in the 1800s, has no native natural control agents in this country and, if left untreated, can rapidly choke watercourses. British Waterways' trial on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal involves boosting the numbers of a naturally occurring two-millimetre-long weevil, which eats the Azolla and destroys it.

The weevils feed exclusively on Azolla, so are host specific and won't harm other plants. They have short life cycles and will die off once all the Azolla has gone. The North American weevil is already present in the UK - first recorded in 1921 and most likely arrived here by hitching a ride on Azolla plants imported by garden centres and aquarists.

Azolla significantly affects nine other British Waterways managed canals: the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, Lancaster Canal and Shropshire Union Canal, the Montgomery Canal in Wales, Bow Back Rivers in London, the Huddersfield Broad, Grand Union Canal in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, Forth & Clyde Canal and the Wyrley & Essington Canal.

Restoration Notes

Barnsley Canal and Dearne & Dove Canal

IWA is to contribute £6,500 towards a restoration feasibility study that the consultants Atkins have been appointed to carry out on the Barnsley and Dearne & Dove Canals. IWA has given a grant from national funds of £5,000 to Barnsley, Dearne & Dove Canals Trust for the study on behalf of Barnsley Canals Consortium. IWA's West Riding Branch is also supporting the appeal with further donations totalling £1,500.

The feasibility study will look at the viability of restoring a navigable waterway between the Aire & Calder Navigation near Wakefield and the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation at Mexborough near Rotherham. It would potentially link the waterways of South and West Yorkshire, forming a Yorkshire waterways cruising ring. The study will also consider a route for restoration of the line to navigation, the environmental & economic benefits of restoration, and the opportunities for tourism along the waterway corridor.

The feasibility study, which is being commissioned by the Barnsley Canals Consortium, is needed to demonstrate that the restoration is viable - and this has now become urgent, as the waterways' restoration promoters need to protect an identified route under a forthcoming planning review.

In 1793, Acts of Parliament were passed to construct both the Barnsley and Dearne & Dove canals to transport coal from the nearby coalfields. After 1914, the canals declined due to competition from road and rail and were gradually abandoned. Restoration began in 1984 with the formation of Barnsley Canal Group.

Wilts & Berks Canal

In recent months, Wilts & Berks Canal Trust has continued with physical restoration works at sites along the canal and has made progress with the production of route and feasibility studies inn partnership with the local authorities along the line of the canal and other waterway interests, including IWA. This has included a further grant of £4,000 from the Association towards the employment costs of a project officer for the Wilts & Berks Canal Partnership - a consortium of interested bodies that includes local authorities, IWA and the Trust.

The feasibility studies are necessary to resolve routes for the canal at Abingdon, Cricklade, Melksham and Swindon, so that these can be included in the local plans for each area to preserve the routes from unwelcome developments that would hinder future restoration work.

Trust projects nearing completion are the River Key Aqueduct at Cricklade and Chaddington Top Lock near Wootton Bassett and Lock 3 at Seven Locks, near Dauntsey. Two successful WRG Canal Camps were held on the canal this summer, including one at Dauntsey where the former wharf wall has been completed and the winding hole dredged. Other work is progressing at West Challow and at Stepping Stones Lane Bridge near Shrivenham.

New restoration work is planned to start at Pewsham Locks near Chippenham, and plans are being made to complete the section of the North Wilts Canal adjacent to Mouldon Hill Country Park in Swindon, starting early in 2005.

The Trust has secured further sites for the next phase of restoration on the North Wilts Canal at Hayes Knoll Lock between Swindon and Cricklade, and a one mile section of canal to the east of Shrivenham. Developers in Swindon are due to start restoring over two miles of the canal in the Southern Development Area in the next year.

The Wilts & Berks Canal was promoted from 1793 as a means of providing cheap transport. The Bill empowering construction of the canal received Royal Assent in 1795 and the canal was cut from the Kennet & Avon Canal at Semington, near Melksham, to the Thames at Abingdon during the years 1796 to 1810.

A link from Swindon to the Thames & Severn Canal at Latton (near Cricklade) was completed in 1819. This link, known as the North Wilts Canal, allowed traffic to bypass the difficult Thames navigation between Lechlade and Abingdon. The main line of the canal was 52 miles long, with six miles of branches and nine miles of the North Wilts Canal. There were 42 locks on the main line, 11 on the North Wilts Canal and three on the Calne branch, and there were three short tunnels.

The canal enjoyed a period of prosperity between 1817 and 1841. However, with the coming of the Great Western Railway in 1841 decline set in. Stanley Aqueduct between Chippenham and Calne collapsed in 1901, stopping through traffic. An Act of Parliament abandoned the canal in 1914. A county boundary change in 1974 transferred the eastern section of the canal from Berkshire to Oxfordshire.

Droitwich Canals

On 8th October, the Heritage Lottery Fund announced that it had approved the bid by British Waterways for £4.6 million grant towards completion of the restoration of the Droitwich Barge Canal and the Droitwich Junction Canal.

The grant should provide just over one third of the funding required to compete restoration of the canals and thus create a 21-mile cruising ring, linking the Worcester & Birmingham Canal to the navigable river Severn. Studies previously commissioned and submitted to the Lottery Fund indicate that the restored Droitwich canals should generate an additional spend of £2.75 million per year within the local economy, and that the waterways are likely to play a key role in the regeneration of Droitwich Spa town centre with the development of a two-acre canalside site and marina.

Studies have also indicated that restoration of the canals may cause property values along the canal corridor to increase by up to 15% and encourage about 330,000 additional visits within five years, making the waterways one of the most visited tourist attractions in Worcestershire.

The project is backed by a partnership that includes British Waterways; The Waterways Trust; The Droitwich Canals Trust; Wychavon District Council and Worcestershire County Council. Restoration work has already benefited from financial support from IWA and a substantial voluntary labour contribution from Waterway Recovery Group. Droitwich Canals Trust, which led the campaign for the restoration of the canals over a thirty-year period, was set up by IWA.

In addition to the more obvious benefits for the local economy, boaters and other recreational users, the completion of the canal restoration will create over six hectares of new reed beds and habitat improvements to benefit species such as otters, birds, water voles and amphibians. There are over 40 structures of heritage importance along the canals, which are to be sensitively restored and conserved.

As well as the Heritage Lottery Fund grant for £4.6 million, Wychavon District Council and Worcestershire County Council have each allocated £1 million to the project, but works cannot start on site until 2nd stage approval for a £3 million grant is received from Advantage West Midlands to complete the funding package. This currently has a 1st stage approval and a decision from the regional development agency is due in December 2004.

As well as the contribution of £1 million, Wychavon District Council has also agreed to transfer the freehold of the canal to British Waterways at nil cost once the canal is restored. The canals were abandoned in 1939 and eventually acquired by the Council, which leased them to Droitwich Canals Trust shortly after the Trust's formation in 1973. The Trust is surrendering its lease of the canals to British Waterways.

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal

The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society has been awarded the Manchester Civic Society's premier award 'The Spirit of Manchester 2004', the recipient being chosen by a democratic vote of individual members of the Manchester Civic Society.

The citation read, "Volunteers from the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society led by Margaret Fletcher, have campaigned for many years for the re-opening of the section of the canal connecting with Manchester's Castlefield Basin. Part of the battle has been won - a large development adjacent to the A6 in Salford will have, as a large scale working water-feature, the canal basin. The dedication of some of the society members has been such that they have barely taken holidays in case a single planning application that would have compromised the re-opening of the waterways was missed. Very much the Spirit of Manchester."

Immediate past recipients of the award have been Manchester's Metrolink Service, the volunteers of the Manchester Commonwealth Games, the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry and the Trustees and Friends of the Victoria Baths. The Award consists of a unique specially commissioned majolica plate about 2 feet in diameter in addition to the usual certificate.

Wey & Arun Canal

The Wey & Arun Canal Trust held an exhibition in Bramley Village Hall on the 8th and 9th October. Bramley is on the original route of the canal, but houses were built on the canal bed after it had been abandoned. This means that the Trust needs to identify alternative route options. The exhibition showed the results of preliminary studies by engineering consultants Halcrow Group Ltd.

There were over 700 visitors to the exhibition, including the Mayor of Waverley, the Mayoress of Waverley, Guildford MP Sue Doughty and representatives of local authorities. Waverley Borough Council, Surrey County Council, the Environment Agency and South East England Development Agency supported the exhibition, which was the first stage of a long-term consultation and planning process.

All visitors to the exhibition were invited to complete a questionnaire. The summary results showed that 66% were in favour of restoring the canal through Bramley. A large majority of those in favour preferred a route following the river rather than the old railway. Independent auditors appointed by the Canal Trust are now analysing the questionnaire results in detail.

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