Teams have been busy

IN RESPONSE to the comments about lack of work being done on the waterways, by the editor of narrowboatworld, and particularly the rusty paddles, Canal & River Trust managers have responded:

Central Shires

In Central Shires, of the 534 PPMs (Planned Preventative Maintenance) scheduled up to the end of October, year to date we have completed 81% on-time, 99% within a month of the planned finish date and all have been completed. On this section of the Trent & Mersey Tunstall down to Alrewas Lock (April to October 2013) 108 PPMs have been undertaken (locks, weirs, sluices & culverts).

Additionally:· Sandon Culvert, near Stone, collapsed in October and had to be re-lined under a road closure and whilst maintaining navigation.

The towpath works referred to must have been the improvements on the Trent & Mersey between Barlaston and Meaford which were funded entirely by Staffs County Council.

As well as towpath works the Trust benefited from bank protection works and even some bridge hole clearance by the council's main contractor.

We are aware of several locks on the Trent & Mersey which need grouting to stop the water loss through the structure. These are of a long standing nature and are prioritised by the engineering team based on national priorities. Trentham Lock 35 and Jesse Shirley Lock 39 are planned for grouting works as part of this winter's stoppage programme.

Manchester & Pennines

In Manchester & Pennines, the construction team operating on the Trent & Mersey Canal also works on the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals. Our focus this summer has been more on these latter two so if it appears that we may not have been doing much then that is the reason. Nonetheless, we have delivered:

PPM in April and September/October to locks, sluices, weirs and aqueducts—over a 100 individual site visits.

The general planned activities relating to water control and operation of Harecastle Tunnel.

20 high priority notifications—including the construction of 16 new accesses for difficult structures, five sites of leak repairs and two sites of bank wall repairs.

We continued with stoppages into May making use of the opportunity presented by the double lock chambers on the flight near Stoke Lock 41 Bottom End mitre gates were replaced.

Reactive works have included two leak repairs through the bank, a culvert and a sluice that failed, and a number of towpath repairs.

Trained a new supervisor and new team members.

North Wales & Borders

In North Wales & Borders the team has completed over 2,400 PPM tasks on 218 assets on the Shropshire Union Canal and the Shropshire Union Canal Middlewich Branch between April and November.

We have also completed two large contract projects—piling works on the lock approach and a bridge refurbishment at Hack Green Locks on the Shropshire Union.

Completed spot dredging operations from Chester to Ellesmere Port, removing over 10.5 thousand tonnes of material to improve the navigable channel.

Fitted replacement tail gates at Tyrley Lock one and at the same time completed wash wall repairs between lock 1 and 2.

Completed five grass cutting operations of the Shropshire Union from Ellesmere Port to Autherley Junction.

Commenced hedge cutting operations on the entire length of the Shropshire Union Canal from Ellesmere Port to Autherley Junction.

We are told this is a flavour of what the teams have been up to, though somewhat difficult to coordinate.