Basingstoke landslip update

IT HAS  been discovered that the landslip on the Basingstoke Canal is still moving causing the towpath to move around 18ft into the waterway.

This is at Dogmersfield as reported in narrowboatworld, (Basingstoke short lived) and has once again closed the canal to boating.

Too steep

The cutting is susceptible to landslips as two others have occurred along the same length of canal in the past. It is believed that when it was first constructed the owners attempted to save cash by not purchasing enough land, thus making the banks too steep, and thus any exceptional rainfall causing a collapse.

Slip progressed

It was at Easter when the slip started, but has progressed since, making the waterway too narrow for navigation.

With such an unstable cutting, a large diameter pipe has now been laid down the canal by the slip to allow water to continue to flow in case more earth comes down.

The whole area has been fenced off in view of such unstable ground.