Will Staveley bank hold?

LATE this afternoon (Friday) the  Chesterfield Canal is in flood and overflowing its new bank at Staveley just before the new basin.

The rush of water over the high bank is bringing soil down with it, and unless the water level can be lowered there is the real risk of the bank collapsing.

Not the first time

This is not the first time this has occurred, for earlier this year water overflowed, and diggers were at the site building up the bank to stop it failing.

The problem is twofold—the bank is very new, so is not well established and the waterway stops at the nearby basin, so that there is no escape for the flood water, that simply goes over the side of the canal.