Huge expansion work begins at historic canal after 3-year wait

[Alan de Enfield]

I've done a search on the forum but cannot find this has been reported :

 

MSN 5 hours ago.

Work has started to extend an East Midlands canal after a three-year wait. The expansion of the Cromford Canal at Beggarlee, Langley Mill, will connect it to the Erewash Canal and the Nottingham Canal at Langley Mill, which is abandoned.

In total, the move will add 1.25km to the canal, Derbyshire Live reports. The original line of the Cromford Canal was cut by the construction of the A610 in the early 1980s.

This new extension will have a double lock raising the level from the in-water section. The upper level will then travel north for 50m and then turn right sharply to go through the centre span of the old Walker Barber railway line under the A610. The canal will then turn immediately left (northwards) along the side of the A610 for 600m to Stoney Lane, where a winding hole will be established to allow boats to turn around.

 

There will be a new public footpath established along the canal to Stoney Lane. The project has been driven by the Friends of Cromford Canal (FCC) group, who since they were established in 2002 have had the canal extension as one of their principal objectives.

 

 

The work on the project has begun with preparatory work to pipe two gullies, one of which will pass underneath and across the new canal extension. Delays to the scheme were due to the FCC having to work with multiple planning authorities due to the location of the canal.

The county boundary between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire at Beggarlee is the line of the A610 road, although originally it was the River Erewash that flowed alongside the Cromford’s original line, but was changed when the A610 was built. This meant it was necessary to discuss and agree on planning consent with Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire county councils and both Amber Valley Borough Council and Broxtowe District Council, while also working with the Canal and River Trust and two Wildlife Trusts.

The groundwork has required the area up to the A610 bridge to be completely cleared of 40 years' worth of thick woodland. A number of the FCC volunteers who had training on dumper trucks and diggers worked with the Waterways Recovery Group (who are a nationally based volunteer group working primarily on waterways) on-site in early July to construct the new watercourse, which will go under the new canal extension.

With the building of the Beggarlee Extension now under way, the FCC needs a site manager - someone who has experience in civil engineering, managing contractors and keeping jobs on track. If anyone has the experience and is interested, and also to discuss terms and conditions, contact the chairman of the FCC, David Martin, at chairman[at]cromfordcanal[dot]org.uk.

 

Huge expansion work begins at historic canal after 3-year wait (msn.com)

[Chris Lowe]

I ws undwer the impression that the Cromford canal was already connected to both the erewash & Nottingham canals at Langley basin, it needs to connect to th rest of intself.

[Guest]

So who pays to maintain it when complete?

 

CRT are talking about closing existing sections so presumably it wont be them.

40 minutes ago, buccaneer66 said:

I ws undwer the impression that the Cromford canal was already connected to both the erewash & Nottingham canals at Langley basin, it needs to connect to th rest of intself.

 

The Nottinham isnt fully 'in water' though. Apart from the very final bit at the basin.

[stagedamager]

And in true FCC style, no mention of the work done by the Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association who seem to have done the majority of the work, and provided the plant machinery. The works that WRG were involved with over the mentioned  weekend in my opinion were dangerous, no demarcation for the general public who were able to walk into the middle of a construction site with plant machinery moving about, which was not WRGs responsibilty but FCC. It all seems a bit Heath Robinson to me. The Langley Mill rally was the ideal opportunity to push their restoration and apart from a few guided tours, if you weren't on one of those, whilst you were able to visit the restoration site, it was just piece of cleared waste ground with no information present as to what was what until the final afternoon when an A3 plan was attached to a gate. 

Can't see CRT adopting this sadly moving forward. 

 

Kind regards

 

Dan

[magpie patrick]

Thanks Alan, that landed in my inbox earlier but I hadn't got round to posting it.

 

This is an actual extension to the system, albeit a fairly short one. 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, magpie patrick said:

Thanks Alan, that landed in my inbox earlier but I hadn't got round to posting it.

 

This is an actual extension to the system, albeit a fairly short one. 

 

 

I'm not sure why, but it was witheld pending 'approval'. It was approved fairly quickly (why did it need it ?) and now I have received subsequent messages (last one 2 minutes ago) repeating "your post has now been approved"

 

Am I on a 'Black-list' or is it because Cromwell canal is on a Black-list ?

[magpie patrick]

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I'm not sure why, but it was witheld pending 'approval'. It was approved fairly quickly (why did it need it ?) and now I have received subsequent messages (last one 2 minutes ago) repeating "your post has now been approved"

 

Am I on a 'Black-list' or is it because Cromwell canal is on a Black-list ?

There was an email address in it, the software picks them up. I think, first time, it was approved with the email address in it, but I spotted it and edited the address (second approval).

 

References to the Cromwell Canal don't need approval, but royalty are advised to avoid cruising on it. 

[David Mack]

6 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

There was an email address in it, the software picks them up. I think, first time, it was approved with the email address in it, but I spotted it and edited the address (second approval).

If a press release includes a contact email address, then surely that indicates that the organisation is willing to receive email and accepts the resulting spam risk. So why edit it?

[Jen-in-Wellies]

22 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

References to the Cromwell Canal don't need approval, but royalty are advised to avoid cruising on it. 

It's why the head of the canal is cut off from the rest of it. A royalist revenge.

[hughc]

Until the restoration reaches much further up the valley where is the water to operate the staircase locks  and fill the length to Stoney Lane going to come from. Since the reservoir at Moorgreen was sold off any heavy demand at Langley Mill has to be met by back pumping. This uses a pump restored and operated by the Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association not CART or BW. I am fully in favour of the restoration of the Cromford having been involved in one way or another at LM since the reopening of the basin in 1973 but having waited so long for  the restoration to progress  perhaps a pause to perfect a more viable solution might be in order.