The next link on the restoration route
CHESTERFIELD Canal Trust has unveiled its plans for the restoration of two of the ‘last nine miles’ at the western end of the canal.
More than 270 people visited the Hollingwood Hub headquarters on January 10 and 11 to view and comment on the proposals.
A planning application will be submitted in February or early March to restore the canal from Eckington Road Bridge to the Chesterfield Borough boundary near Renishaw. This will cover the whole of the canal’s path within the borough which has not yet been restored, a distance of nearly two miles.
Among the Friday morning visitors were local MPs, Lee Rowley (North
East Derbyshire) and Toby Perkins (Chesterfield). The boundary between their two constituencies comes through the middle of the Hollingwood Hub site.
“Both of them are incredible supporters of the Chesterfield Canal,” said the trust’s publicity officer Rod Auton. He explained HS2 is expected to bring the next bill to Parliament at some time during the summer and that it was important to have the canal restoration plans on the map.
Despite several meetings, the trust has not yet been able to finalise an agreement with HS2 about its bridge across the canal.
Other complications include five different landowners, several buried sewers and water pipes and significant land subsidence in the Doe Lea Valley.
The Staveley Puddlebank, which is up to 30 feet high, has been removed in some places and 170,000 cubic metres of clay will be needed to rebuild it. An aqueduct will also be required to take the canal across the River Doe Lea.
In order to produce its application, the trust has had to commission several investigations including a water resource study, flood risk assessment, archaeology, heritage and ecology reports.
The last nine miles has been broken down into seven sections, of which the plans relate to Section 1 – The Colliery Link which runs from Eckington Road Bridge at Hartington in Staveley to Spinkhill Lane in Renishaw, where it joins the sites of the old Hartington Colliery and Renishaw Colliery.
Ground levels have been severely affected by mining subsidence and a new passage under the railway requires ‘fall and rise’ locks on either side to reduce the pound level and accommodate the requirements of the lower rail level.
Staveley Town Lock was completed in 2016 to drop the pound.
This crossing is now proposed to be used by HS2 as a link to its proposed Infrastructure Maintenance Depot on the old Staveley Chemical Works site west of Hall Lane.
Discussions with HS2 engineers are ongoing to assess any further design requirements and changes.
The link between the TransPennine Trail and the Arkwright
Trail will cross the canal on a new high-level multi-user trail bridge, which will cross east of the ‘riser’ Railway Lock.
Access to the farm fields north of the canal will be provided by an accommodation bridge. This will also provide additional walking and cycling access to the Trans-Pennine Trail from Mastin Moor and Lowgates.
Chesterfield Canal Trust’s aim is to complete the restoration by the canal’s 250th anniversary in 2027. For further details of the proposals and the 2027 Restoration Appeal visit www. chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk