progress Cromford Canal

The Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association don’t just carry random pieces of paddle gear around the waterways (see previous pages). They’ve also got involved in the early stages of the Cromford Canal restoration’s next project at Beggarlee, where the first section of the canal leads off from the head of the Erewash at ECP&DA’s base at Langley Mill, as Dave Turner reports...

ECP&DA had not been involved with canal restoration for over 12 years so it was nice to hear that the Friends of the Cromford Canal were finally able to start on their Beggarlee Extension project and wanted our help. Work must commence within three years of planning permission being granted but for FCC there were numerous challenging pre-start conditions which delayed work

The Friends of the Cromford Canal’s Beggarlee Extension Project will recreate the first 1km length of the Cromford Canal from the head of the Erewash Canal at Great Northern Basin, Langley Mill northwards. Unfortunately since the Cromford Canal was abandoned the new A610 main road has been built across the Erewash valley, blocking the canal just a short distance north of Langley Mill. However, very conveniently a bridge which was built to carry the road over an railway siding serving a coal mine has been unused since the mine closed some years ago, so the restored canal will be diverted to pass through this bridge.

on site. FCC has until August to get the project underway but before they can make a start in planning terms there are lots of trees, shrubs and brambles to clear. Sufficient of the site must be cleared by the end of February, the start of the bird nesting season, to enable the culverting of two ditches that cross the canal route and thus secure the planning permission before that August deadline.

So from early November until now at the beginning of February, ECP&DA’s efforts has gone into assisting with felling, logging, chipping brash and winching out stumps, working our way across the site following a laid down priority list. FCC work on site Wednesdays and ourselves on Fridays and share some of our equipment such as the FCC dumper and the ECP&DA chipper. We are also sharing plant training opportunities. In January we started a joint first Saturday of the month work party and will continue this for as long as necessary.

On the plant and equipment front it soon became apparent that the ECP&DA chipper was not functioning well and it had to be stripped down for the blades to be sharpened and the anvil reset. What was even more troubling was that our old 3RB excavator burst a hose just before a driver training session which encouraged us to take a closer look at the rest. Unfortunately the machine was built with hydraulic pipes using a now obsolete thread so there will be a delay before we sort it all out.

It’s not a straightforward project: the bridge is at an awkward angle and a different height from the historic canal. So the restored canal will need a dog-leg bend and a new pair of staircase locks - but that’s still a lot easier and cheaper than a new main road bridge. And WRG is likely to be quite heavily involved in helping to carry out the work.

Our thanks go to WRG for agreeing to lend their excavator to assist with tree stump removal; it was due to arrive on Monday 6th February. Thanks also to WRG NW who are loaning us a Tirfor and to WRG BITM who are joining us for the weekend of 18/19th February - despite neither of their cooks nor me being available.

Dave Turner

Work Party Organiser ECP&DA

A planning inspector overruling a council decision and allowing housing to be built doesn’t often mean good news for canal restoration. But this time...

The big news for the restoration of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a bit different from most of the news stories in our Navvies progress section. It doesn’t involve volunteers restoring locks, or Lottery funding paying for channel reinstatement, or even the machinations of HS2. No, it’s the news that a somewhat controversial planning application to build some houses has been given the goahead following an appeal. And its relevance to the canal is that it will result in the repair of a spectacular burst that closed the canal as a through route back in 1936.

The 15 mile canal ran from the River Irwell in Salford up the Irwell Valley to Nob End near Prestolee, where it split into two branches - one to Bolton and the other to Bury. At this point the canal ran high along the steep side of the Irwell valley, and in 1936 a major breach just on the Bury side of the junction saw a large chunk of the canal bank collapse into the river 300 feet below, almost taking a boat with it.

The breach was never repaired, the canal was progressively closed between then and the 1960s, and by the time the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Society was formed to restore it there were numerous blockages - including the 1936 breach.

Repairing it was going to be a tricky and expensive job, but in recent years a housing development alongside the canal was proposed, using the former Cream’s Mill site and other land - and the developer would reinstate the canal past the breach site as part of the work.

Unfortunately the development involved construction on green belt land - and for this reason it was turned down by local planners. However following an appeal, it has now been given the go-ahead by a Planning Inspector, overruling the local council’s refusal, and quoting the canal restoration as one of the factors in making this decision. This has been a controversial decision locally. The canal restorers have tended to take a neutral position on whether they are in favour or against the housing developmentbut (given that there are no other big pots of money to fund the breach repairs) they saw it as the only opportunity on the horizon for dealing with one of the worst blockages. There are conditions written into the planning permission concerning the timing of the construction and canal work - meaning that the developer cannot just build the houses and leave the breach for later.

Work is expected to begin soon; when complete it will link together two clear lengths of canal - to Water Street on the way to Bury, and to Hall Lane on the Bolton line - making a three-mile continuous restored length.