Plas Kynaston Canal

[Steve Waterman]

Hi my name is Steve and I am looking forward to joining your community

 

 

Although I'm not a boat user, I live near the canal, near Llangollen’s Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Wrexham

 

At the moment some people in our village are wondering about the possibility of restoring a section of canal that has been disused and filled in for about a hundred years.

we are wondering about the feasibility of this and we would like to know if this is something your forum members have experience of.

 

Also there is talk of building a Marina to go alongside this project, with the hope of bringing more interest into this historic area.

We are not property developers but enthusiastic amateurs, we do not have a 'group' or society yet,

There is a group of neighbours having an informal chat later today over a pot of tea.

There is also a petition in the local village to gauge opinion.

 

The alternative to this, is a housing development which would cover the filled in canal,

losing the chance forever to bring this canal back.

 

I have joined this forum to see if there is any interest in the wider boating community for our idea.

Your views are welcome good or bad and would be much appreciated.

[CV32]

Hi my name is Steve and I am looking forward to joining your community

 

 

Although I'm not a boat user, I live near the canal, near Llangollen’s Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Wrexham

 

At the moment some people in our village are wondering about the possibility of restoring a section of canal that has been disused and filled in for about a hundred years.

we are wondering about the feasibility of this and we would like to know if this is something your forum members have experience of.

 

Also there is talk of building a Marina to go alongside this project, with the hope of bringing more interest into this historic area.

We are not property developers but enthusiastic amateurs, we do not have a 'group' or society yet,

There is a group of neighbours having an informal chat later today over a pot of tea.

There is also a petition in the local village to gauge opinion.

 

The alternative to this, is a housing development which would cover the filled in canal,

losing the chance forever to bring this canal back.

 

I have joined this forum to see if there is any interest in the wider boating community for our idea.

Your views are welcome good or bad and would be much appreciated.

 

Steve,

 

I can offer no advice on the subject of canal restoration but would like to wish you all the very best.

 

Good luck

[Chris J W]

I can offer no advice on the subject of canal restoration but would like to wish you all the very best.

 

Good luck

 

Hear, Hear!!

 

I *love* the Llangollen and feel it's such a shame it was never restored back to it's full length.

 

But I must admit to not being entire sure which bit you mean to be restored. There's not much, really, beyond the current basin before you hit the Dee, is there? Or have I misunderstood where you mean? (Which I hope I have, really.)

[Steve Waterman]

Steve,

 

I can offer no advice on the subject of canal restoration but would like to wish you all the very best.

 

Good luck

 

 

Hi CV32.

Thanks for the acknowledgement. at least we are underway on this thread.

I will keep everybody apprised of any significant developments.

[Graham Davis]

From memory, I don't think this is beyond Llangollen, but an old canal that went to the works at Plas from around the Trevor area. Perhaps the OP can elaborate?

 

Oh and good luck, where ever it is.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Graham Davis

[Travis]

I remember in the eighties when peoples thought the Rochdale Canal was a hopeless cause...and now it's open (OK, not suiting pureists/red knekerchiefs), but its open. The Best of British to you...

 

Andy.

[Graham Davis]

http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/405834/d...RE+UNION+CANAL/

[Chris J W]

http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/405834/d...RE+UNION+CANAL/

 

 

Thanks for that.

[mayalld]

Hear, Hear!!

 

I *love* the Llangollen and feel it's such a shame it was never restored back to it's full length.

 

But I must admit to not being entire sure which bit you mean to be restored. There's not much, really, beyond the current basin before you hit the Dee, is there? Or have I misunderstood where you mean? (Which I hope I have, really.)

 

I believe that this is the bit of canal that used to leave under the blocked bridgehole at the back end of Trevor Basin.

[the grinch]

why not. the project is viable as far as i can recall from previous attempts in fact the first section was done back in the 80/90's if i recall. the branch used to be just Trevor Basin and was extended 100 yards or so under the first bridge to provide extra moorings.

 

as for assistance I can give you advice as I have been restoring canals for over 30 years and have a wealth of knowledge on the subject. there are others on here that have similar / different experience both in waterways worked on and length of time doing so. at least 2 of us have been WRG members for years.

 

I'm off to look at Lock 19 - 20 section of the Wey & Arun today, before i go and run the trip boat at loxwood which is part of my annual survey of the canal for the trust. this section is part in water, part dry, part filled in and very overgrown!

kev

[magpie patrick]

Hi my name is Steve and I am looking forward to joining your community

 

 

Although I'm not a boat user, I live near the canal, near Llangollen’s Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Wrexham

 

At the moment some people in our village are wondering about the possibility of restoring a section of canal that has been disused and filled in for about a hundred years.

we are wondering about the feasibility of this and we would like to know if this is something your forum members have experience of.

 

Also there is talk of building a Marina to go alongside this project, with the hope of bringing more interest into this historic area.

We are not property developers but enthusiastic amateurs, we do not have a 'group' or society yet,

There is a group of neighbours having an informal chat later today over a pot of tea.

There is also a petition in the local village to gauge opinion.

 

The alternative to this, is a housing development which would cover the filled in canal,

losing the chance forever to bring this canal back.

 

I have joined this forum to see if there is any interest in the wider boating community for our idea.

Your views are welcome good or bad and would be much appreciated.

 

Steve,

 

I am the chairman of a canal restoration society and advise professionally and sometimes unpaid on canal restoration, I also handle some of the Heritage Lottery Fund's canal restoration projects.

 

I'll PM you my contact details

 

Patrick

[magpie patrick]

Steve,

 

I am the chairman of a canal restoration society and advise professionally and sometimes unpaid on canal restoration, I also handle some of the Heritage Lottery Fund's canal restoration projects.

 

I'll PM you my contact details

 

Patrick

 

 

Arrrrggghhh! Can't PM you!

 

email me at pmoss(at)peterbrett(dot)com

[Steve Waterman]

Arrrrggghhh! Can't PM you!

 

email me at pmoss(at)peterbrett(dot)com

 

Hi Patrick

Email sent

[Steve Waterman]

Thanks very much for you interest everybody.

 

The link posted with the picture is correct, thanks for that Graham.

 

The section of canal we are talking about runs from Trevor Basin for approx one km east, with a curve/ loop bending North. It ends at the village of Cefn Mawr.

The section we hope to restore is going to be on the old flexys/monsanto site ( The one with the funny smell) It is now completely demolished.Apparently after they demolished the works, they did a site survey and the ground came out solid except for the length of the canal, which was a lot softer than the surrounding area.

 

We have on board the help of the DVCP, (Dee Vally community partnership) who came to our informal meeting last night who might be able to help with the perils of negotiating with the local Govenment (Wrexham county borough council are just about to open consultation on the local developement plan LDP).

 

Someone from our group ( Our esteemed leader dave!! Ha ha) is meeting with someone senior from the council on the tenth of June.

Many local people have signed our petition

[Graham Davis]

Steve,

no problem. I find that site very useful for historic stuff, especially as I don't live that far away from you.

 

With another hat on, we find Wrexham Council to be reasonably open to discussion and not at all "blinkered" to volunteers, like some other North Wales councils.

[Steve Waterman]

Thank you Graham. you never know with councils do you. They can be very regimented and rule driven and one needs to know the 'council speak' ha ha.

But like you say Wrexham council is reasonably open.

 

At the moment the whole site (130 hectares) is going to be designated 'mixed use' and we were wondering if there is demand for a new Marina.

 

If there is, what do people want/need in regard to facilities?

Please state the obvious as we are not boating/canal people.

Also add your wish list.

[Night Hawk]

Right then...I'll go and get my spade...who's in charge of making tea?

 

Where d'ya want me?

[Steve Waterman]

Hi Hamsterfan.

We've been trawling google for PDFs for info from the waterways websites so far and accumulated a CDs worth of info on marinas and canal restorations, so we have some data to present to the council.

We feel we are in with a chance, because it is a short length of canal in a popular boating area which has water congestion problems.

We need to prove that it is needed, and would be of economic and social benefit to the surrounding community ( I seem to be picking up council speak ha ha!!)

[the grinch]

you won't have much trouble with presenting a case for moorings as the Llangollen is the most popular canal and is always crowded with visiting boats. we currently run trip boats over a 3 mile section of the Wey & Arun and visitor numbers grow week on week. the trips today were very busy and there were 100's of people about this afternoon even up at Southland where we were working there was a steady stream of people passing (its 1.5 miles from Loxwood) so not a short walk!

 

Waterways World have done bits on your arm in the past have you asked them for copies?

 

good luck

 

kev

[MartinClark]

We feel we are in with a chance, because it is a short length of canal in a popular boating area which has water congestion problems.

 

I wish you well with this. I am all for seeing historic stretches of canal reinstated.

 

However, as the Llangollen is at times very congested with boats, some might say that another marina is the last thing that it needs!

[Phoenix_V]

We are all for restoration but whether the canal can cope with the extra traffic a new marina would bring needs careful investigation and you will need to persuade British Waterways, size is relevant here of course I am sure some new moorings would be more than acceptable question is how many.

 

The attached link may help.

 

http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/marinadevelopment/

[magpie patrick]

Steve,

 

I'll email more as promised but I thinkyou need to start with a few questions... for starters

 

Are you restoring the Plas Kynaston Canal or opening a new marina? Which do you want? A marina looks nothing like a canal, but that doesn't mean a restored canal can not host marina type facilities. Brassknocker Basin on the Somerset Coal Canal, leading off the Kennet and Avon at Dundas, provides about 50 moorings, a slip way, canoe and cycle hire, a popular cafe and a visitor centre which tells the history of the canal. It is a totally private venture with no public revenue support.

 

I guess the Monsanto site needs "regenerating". Not sure how big it is but "real" marinas are huge. You get about 30 boats to the hectare so a 300 berth marina needs 10 hectares, of which 2/3 is needed for land based facilities. If the sites 100 hectares this might be great to fill a corner of a large, difficult to develop site, but if it's 12 hectares you've taken most of it and generated around 14 jobs. Marinas of this type don't make good development focuses because they are too big and to be honest, too utilitarian.

 

Where is the activity going to come from? Water without activity doesn't add much. Can you make this canal part of a development that serves the boater at least in part. Take those moorings, say 20 residential and 30 visitor moorings, and either a cafe/pub "The Plas Kynaston Arms" or (not knowing the area) make it obvious where to find local facilities within 200 metres. Make it a place that peole would want to spend the night or a lunchtime

[Boatgypsy]

As a direct descendant of Roger Kynaston who gave his name to the estate and thereby the canal, I'm all in favour of it. I've been telling all my friends and relatives that we have a canal in the family, I might be able to even visit it on my boat!

[Steve Waterman]

As a direct descendant of Roger Kynaston who gave his name to the estate and thereby the canal, I'm all in favour of it. I've been telling all my friends and relatives that we have a canal in the family, I might be able to even visit it on my boat!

 

Hi Boatgypsy.

 

Thats Incredible, and has made my day. thanks for that.

 

We need to start with the canal first, to answer an earlier question.

The marina is being mentioned as we need to get all ideas to the table before the submission of the local development plan consultation period.

The council have made some positive noises, and as said before have agreed to a meeting.

If the local people don't get their ideas in, things will be imposed on us EG, 600 plus new houses in a village with only two thousand existing houses - for us this would be a huge

increase.

Although we are not against having properties built, we feel there should be something more in character with the area, and a few less houses, plus a reopened canal seems to us more benefical.

Thanks for all your comments so far, very useful and informative and we are taking notice of them all.

[Steve Waterman]

Thanks for the link Phoenix, cor, theres quite a lot of info in there isn't there.

Very useful and appriciated.

 

Update; We have been told that a small marina is needed around here because Trevor basin is full of Anglo Welsh Boat Hire boats and a lot of holiday makers just go straight through to Llangollen without stopping to admire the Aqueduct.

 

To Magpie patrick.

More details to follow, as you can imagine the LDP is not written in english as we know it. (The spatial strategy is in formed by a detailed sustainability analysis???)