Waterways News and Features

Waterways News & Features about what's happening on the UK Canals and River Navigations.

Canal Junction has regular news updates on canal matters, progress reports on the many canal restoration and rebuilding schemes and special features about UK canals and inland waterways.

If you have canal news releases, event news or other canal information you'd like to share or ideas about features you'd like to see in Canal Junction, please email us.

Make sure you make time to dip into Tony Lewery's regular 'Off the Mainline' for a refreshingly different, thoughtful and thought provoking look at canals, their heritage and their future.
Recent topics include:
Historic boats are rotting away at our National Waterways Museums. Is this the way we should look after our waterway heritage? Does anyone care?
Tony Lewery takes us Off the Main Line for journeys through waterways issues. AddThis Feed Button
Swop your boat for a few weeks or months with people wanting a canal holiday while you enjoy their home or holiday house.
How boaters can reduce the burden on world resources and make boating more enjoyable, safer, cost effective and rewarding.
Restoration Reports, plans to reopen the Cotswolds Canals, Bradford Canal, Wilts and Berks canal, Montgomery Canal ...
Living on a Canalboat. Many people dream of living on the canals. But what is it really like? Hard facts here!
Traditional engine sounds - Lister JP2 taking it easy (83k .wav file) Armstrong working hard (50k) - Bolinder slowing (100k)
NEWS ROUNDUP - information and images courtesy of Harry Arnold and Waterway Images (except *).
OCTOBER 2008
CANAL CRUISING COMPANY LEAVE BLAKES
The oldest established holiday boat hire business on the canals the Canal Cruising Company – based on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stone – is no longer to use the Blakes Holidays agency for bookings. Canal Cruising is celebrating its 60th year in business and was one of the first canal hire companies join Blakes; being with the agency for 30 years.
Karen Wyatt, owner of the business with her husband Peter, told us that the company is now obtaining around 70% of their annual lettings itself – especially with the increase in customers booking via the internet; although most still also request a brochure. She said that it was not currently financially viable to remain with the agency but stressed that their leaving was entirely amicable; with the option to rejoin remaining open.
POPULAR SAUL CANAL FESTIVAL TO BE DISCONTINUED
The Saul Canal Festival – one of the most popular regional waterway events after the Crick Boat Show and the IWA National Festival – is to be discontinued. Organisers the Cotswold Canals Trust believe that the event has run its course for the time being and that the increasing costs of mounting it can be better directed to work on the Cotswold Canals’ restoration.
Over the past eight years the festival has raised £136,573 toward restoration work on the Cotswold Canals project, but cancellation due to floods in 2007 caused a loss of revenue and poor weather in 2008 only created a modest surplus. The festival was combined with a Folk on the Water entertainment and was becoming increasing popular among inland waterway industry exhibitors.
CROWN WHARF – STONE
British Waterway has invited ideas for the redevelopment of the historic Crown Wharf on the Trent & Mersey Canal in Stone. The site is right in the centre of the town and next to the boatyard of the Canal Cruising Company.
It is looking for a scheme which will enhance the canal through the town and that will find an economic and viable use for the original buildings on the wharf. Previous suggested developments have involved the demolition of the buildings which brought many objections from local people and waterway conservation groups.
SEPTEMBER 2008
The boat stolen from the Colwich area in early September has now been recovered.
STOURBRIDGE CANAL BREACHED A 20-metre section of the Stourbridge Canal – connecting the Birmingham Canal Navigations with the Staffs & Worcester Canal – blew out during the early hours of Sunday 7 September. Over two mile of canal - including the section from Stourbridge Locks to the top of Stourton Locks and the Stourbridge Town Arm – was dewatered and 65 mega litres of water lost. As it is a rural area, damage was localised and most of the lost water ran into the River Stour. The length of canal between Stourton and Stourbridge locks – severing this route from the Staffs & Worcester Canal into Birmingham - is anticipated to remain closed for a period of approximately 4 months, however, this timescale may be revised.
ABC LEISURE GROUP ACQUIRES BLACKWATER MEADOW MARINA at Ellesmere on the busy Llangollen Canal - the most popular holiday cruising waterway in Britain. As part of the deal the Group will also take over the management of a number of ‘Canaltime’ hire and shared ownership narrowboats located at this marina and two other current bases. Blackwater Meadow is a modern development in a pretty rural location in Shropshire’s ‘lakeland’, country with almost 100 moorings and a range of services.
The company says that this is a notable development in ABC’s growth, ... developing its status as the UK’s number one provider of boat management, inland marinas and related waterways services. (*ABC News release)
DROITWICH BARGE LOCK RE-GATED New gates have been fitted to the Barge Lock in Droitwich as part of its £100,000 restoration. The money has been raised by an appeal by The Waterways Trust and IWA as part of the £6 million Droitwich Canals Restoration scheme, re-creating route between the Worcester & Birmingham Canal and the River Severn via Droitwich.
The lock has been renovated by Waterway Recovery Group volunteers and British Waterways staff and individual companies and associations in the inland waterways industry have contributed towards the appeal which is currently about £3,000 short of its target. There will be a ceremony commemorating the lock’s completion on 29 September. Left - A gate being lowered into the Droitwich Barge Lock.
MERCIA MARINA OPERATIONAL The 585-berth Mercia Marina at Willington near Derby on the Trent & Mersey Canal – one of the biggest new developments on the canal network – is now operational. Over 200 berths have already been booked, although only about 50 boats were in during our visit because of the closure of the River Trent navigation due to high water. Quite a number of owners appear to be re-locating from moorings on the Trent. Wet weather has also delayed completion of some of the surrounding infrastructure of the marina and the £60,000 tree-planting and landscaping scheme. Although the basin is basically a huge expanse of water, the design groups pontoons in a number of bays each near to their own service block; in effect creating more intimate ‘mini marinas’.
MCA BOATMASTERS LICENCE EXEMPTIONS Following lobbying by IWA, supported by BMF and others, agreement has been reached with the Maritime & Coastguard Agency on alternatives to Tier 2 of the new Boatmasters Licence - due to come into effect on 30 September -. Waterway societies and small businesses operating small boats carrying twelve or fewer passengers on inland waterways and small work boats would have been seriously affected by the new rules.
Left Bywater Holiday Cruises, who operate horse-drawn holiday cruises on the Montgomery Canal, is one of the businesses given an exemption under the agreement.
AUGUST 2008
MONTY 08 WELSHPOOL RALLY* - 'a shock to stand on the footbridge over the canal in Welshpool town centre and find the canal basin full of boats... colour and movement, fluttering flags, balloons, barking dogs and smoking chimneys on water that is usually empty except for rubbish and urban ducks' writes Tony Lewery More..
The IWA 2008 NATIONAL FESTIVAL at Autherley Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal attracted over 24,000 visitors over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
The Festival had over 2 miles of moored boats plus lots of other attractions and was intended to help to raise the profile of the Black Country and attract tourism.
STRATFORD OVERNIGHT STOPPAGES
In a plan to get ahead with the planned winter work programme on the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal British Waterways West Midlands are to fit new lock gates during overnight stoppages of the waterway. Extensive and complex urgent repairs to locks structures was undertaken last year and more will be done during the coming winter closure period in November.
Tony Harvey, British Waterways West Midlands, General Manager said: “By carrying out these gate replacement works ahead of the main stoppage season, it will allow us to free up some extra time later on in the year to complete some essential brickwork repairs that are required on some other local locks."
FIRST NEW LOCK GATES FITTED IN LIVERPOOL LINK
The first new lock gates in the Liverpool Canal Link project have been installed. They are on the new Mann Island Lock – part of the main Pier Head development - which will take boats from the link to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal into Liverpool’s South Dock complex and the famous Albert Dock tourist attraction.
Weighing up to 4 tonnes and almost 5 metres in height, the gates were fabricated by local engineering company Twinbridge of Burscough and fitted with paddles and winding gear by British Waterways Stanley Ferry Workshop. Construction of the £20 million canal link is nearing the final stages as the Pier Head engineering works are almost complete with the Central Docks and Mann Island section progressing well with an opening during Spring 2009 being forecast.
THEFTS OF DIESEL FUEL
With the increasing cost of diesel fuel an increasing number of thefts from the tanks of inland waterway craft are being reported, particularly on the southern part of the Shropshire Union Canal but also on the Kennet & Avon Canal and the River Trent.
Boat owners are being advised to fit locking devices to fuel filler caps to prevent siphoning of fuel.
SEA OTTER
A new limited company is being formed to continue the manufacture and servicing of Sea Otter aluminium boats. However it will revert to concentrating on the original functions of the Staveley-based boatbuilders – the building, maintaining and providing owner services for purely trailable boats. Sea Otter had expanded into building longer non-trailable narrowboats.
The new company will be run by Paul Hobson – a nephew of the company founders Cindy and Ray Shepherd – and will employ just 12 of the original staff and occupy one of the two existing buildings.
GOOD PROGRESS ON MON & BREC REPAIRS
Repairs to the bed of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal following the major breach of October 2007 are making good progress and British Waterways say that they are currently on target for the dry section of the canal to be re-filled by December and fully reopened by March 2009. A short section of the canal towards the south end of the works was reopened at the end of May, enabling some boats to move back to their moorings. BW say that the current works – divided into a number of contracts – are simply those necessary to get the waterway reopened and that there would be a requirement for further planned repairs in the future.
WORK TO CONTINUE ON COTSWOLD RESTORATION
Following British Waterways’ shock withdrawal from the Cotswold Canals Partnership and the project to restore the section of the canals from Stonehouse to Brimscombe, the Heritage Lottery Fund has agreed to continue with its £11.9 million funding package contribution to the scheme. Works can now go ahead with Stroud District Council becoming the lead partners in the restoration, working with the Cotswold Canals Trust and others.


back to our main menu.


for feedback or information

All materials and images
© Canal Junction Ltd.
No unauthorised reproduction.