Canal open days to highlight perils of climate change
The Canal & River Trust is opening up three locks in the near future to help demonstrate quite what is happening to the inland waterways network across the UK. The centuries-old network needs investment to ensure that it can make it through extreme weather. The call for money is nothing new, but the open days will showcase some of the works which are taking place to help mitigate against climate change.
They’ll take place at Caen Hill Locks, a scheduled ancient monument on the Kennet & Avon Canal (8 February); ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Hatton Locks on the Grand Union Canal (15 and 16 February); and urban Leeds Lock, in the heart of the city (30 November). More information is available on the charity’s website.
The charity’s not only warning about imminent irreparable damage to the historic canals, it’s talking about thousands of centuries-old hand-crafted bridges, locks, tunnels, embankments and aqueducts.
Spanning 2,000 miles across England and Wales and dating back to the 18th century, the free-to-visit canal network is now busier with more boats than at the height of the Industrial Revolution, the charity believes.
And, while the canal network has been repurposed for modern society, its age and the unrelenting passage of time means that more frequent and severe storms are bringing flooding and landslips and causing unprecedented damage.
“Britain’s ageing canals are a national treasure,” says Richard Parry, chief executive at Canal & River Trust. “They have been repurposed for modern society for leisure, recreation and for their wildlife, supporting thousands of jobs and the economy and saving the NHS over £1 billion annually because of the health and wellbeing benefits they bring to millions of people.
“And whilst the canal network is cherished by today’s society, it is, however, also facing a perfect storm, with costs rising and support from government reducing.
“As we head into winter, we’re bracing ourselves for more costly damage from extreme weather but also working to make these aged former transport routes, and the wildlife they support, as resilient as possible. Our specialist teams of skilled workers and volunteers will be giving long hours, carrying out heritage conservation works, and fighting to respond to the storms that are becoming ever more common.
“Keeping the canals open and safe requires millions of pounds and a year-round effort. We’re talking to government about the need for an active partnership, and we’re calling on people to donate and help us safeguard our canals and rivers for the future.”
The Canal & River Trust is taking action with an annual targeted programme of maintenance and repairs over the next six months and is hosting three behind-the-scenes open days (on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Wiltshire, Grand Union Canal in Warwickshire, and Aire & Calder Navigation in Yorkshire) for the public to see firsthand its work to keep canals open and alive.
The charity has also launched its first fundraising campaign that directly responds to the rising cost of repairing storm and flood damage. Last winter alone, a succession of ‘named’ storms caused almost £10 million of additional and unforeseen repairs, including a major landslip on the Oxford Canal where 4,000 tonnes of mud slipped 18 metres, completely severing one of the busiest and oldest canals in the country. Just south of Leicester, a section of the Grand Union Canal bank and towpath was washed away, while, in Lancashire, a breached dam caused a towpath to collapse, and there was widespread flood damage across the canals in the East Midlands.
The Canal & River Trust is working on a winter programme of important repair, heritage and conservation tasks at 159 sites across England and Wales. 129 new lock gates will be installed, while other work includes masonry repairs to centuries-old bridges and tunnels, work to fix leaks and preserve water for navigation, and inspections of important ageing infrastructure.
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