Nine months to repair Peak Forest lock!

ONCE again a job is taking far too long to complete.

It was way back on the 17th August last year that Lock 7 was closed on the Marple Flight due to movement with a lock wall, six months ago, Keith Gudgin reported.

Lock wall moved

Our being told that the detailed engineering survey carried out on the lock the week before had concluded that the lock wall has moved substantially over a short period of time.

The results indicated the lock cannot be operated safely, either by boaters, or on the basis of managed passage, and that it would pose a substantial risk to anyone attempting to operate the lock or navigate it. This of course meant that the entire Marple Flight from Lock 1 to Lock 16 was closed to navigation.

After this we were told the repair will require substantial work and the lock will remain closed for an extended period of time, after the trust evaluated the design and method of the repair, telling it will be doing its best to make sure it is prioritised in its works programme as soon as possible.

Robust and cost effective

Adding that its engineering team and contractors will be making sure that the design is both robust and cost effective. The work then continued with arranging access to the site to allow machinery to cross the area safely and stabilise the lock walls.

Then it needed the installation of concrete piles, that will not start until Monday 26th February, and is estimated to take four months, followed by the contractors starting to dismantle the existing lock stonework, followed by the removal of the ground around the lock chamber.

Once the lock and the ground works have been completed, the contractors will begin rebuilding the lock chamber, and focus on the reinstatement of the lock gates, this work will run through April until May.

Then after the work is completed the lock will eventually be open and navigation to resume on Friday 24th  May. It taking nine months in all to complete the work.

The photograph

The photograph is not of the Peak Forest lock, (as one has not been released) but one of a much worse lock that took British Waterway just four months to completely repair. It is Lock 12b on The Aylesbury Arm, that can be seen was a real lock wall movement!

How different to nine months—over twice as long for the Peak Forest lock. Yet nowhere near as bad!