'Formalise a plan of works' for Ripon

Published: Thursday, 20 May 2021

THERE seems little hope of the Ripon Canal being reopened in the near future.

All that Canal & River Trust inform us today, 20th May, is that it is to 'formalise a plan of works' now that it has investigated the failure of Oxclose Lock (3), that has closed all access to Ripon.

Over 200 boats stuck

In the meantime, as Kevin Howell pointed out in his article Boaters in Limbo, over 200 boats are stuck with nowhere to go.

It was on the 20th April when the cill on Oxclose Lock broke off and the waterway was closed, and though at that time divers attempted to make a temporary repair to allow the release of the trapped boats, this was not successful.

Two holes had opened up in the bottom of the lock, with the reason given that there was nothing to anchor a repair to and so the lock remains out of use and the boats remain stuck—already for a month, just as lockdown was lifted.

And at the rate such repairs now take to complete...