Works starts on the Yorkshire canals

THE WINTER works have included many repairs to the Yorkshire canals that have suffered greatly over the past few years.

With the trust maintaining that, as it heads into winter, it is bracing itself for more costly damage to make these aged waterways, and the wildlife they support, as resilient as possible, Janet Friend reports.

Began last week

Repair work in Yorkshire began last week at Bank Newton to replace lock gates and make repairs to lock chambers, quoins and cills. Also repairs to the swing bridges that keep failing on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

This is the waterway where a company stopped its major hire owing to its customers being unable to complete their trips and so many having to be cancelled or collected from behind stoppages. The owner remarking it was 'soul destroying'.

Other work as part of a six-month programme of repairs included lock gate replacements and repairs along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, Aire & Calder Navigation and Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation.

Required millions of pounds

Richard Parry remarked that keeping canals open and safe required 'millions of pounds and a year-round effort', and that the trust was 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.