IMAGE: FCC Breakthrough for Cromford Canal
THE Friends of the Cromford Canal have finally overcome one of the main obstacles in extending the canal further north and reconnecting with the rest of the now derelict and isolated canal in Derbyshire.
A Strategic Restoration Committee was set up in January 2016 and formulated a plan to start work on connecting the Cromford Canal with the national network after it was originally officially abandoned in 1969.
In 1973 the Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association restored the first lock on the Cromford and opened it back up, along with the restored Great Northern Basin.
Then in 2008 they continued to restore the canal further along the original route of the existing Cromford Canal; most of this section at the terminus is now currently a private boatyard.
The A610 bypass caused a major obstacle, blocking the original route of the canal and severing the existing towpath route along with it, around 1984 after the NCB opencast the area.
The Friends of the Cromford Canal’s chief engineer John Boucher of Westwood designed a scheme to use an existing colliery railway bridge that still exists in the A610 embankment structure, thus overcoming the obstacle.
A newly proposed route will go onwards and upwards following the original route and incorporating two new staircase locks to elevate the canal so that it can turn right, passing under the A610 without affecting the bridge foundations.
It will then turn immediately left, heading around the western edge of the Brinsley’s former Moorgreen Colliery spoil heap and terminating on Stoney Lane in Brinsley.
John Boucher said: “It’s been a long process because it involved two planning authorities, Broxtowe and Amber Valley, along with many statutory consultees but with the help of my friends and colleagues in the FCC we have finally managed, after 17 months, to achieve our goal.”
David Martin, current chairman of the Friends of the Cromford Canal, said: “I have to say when George Rogers and I planned this back in 2016 I never really believed it would take this long! However, we are where we are and now the real work will begin. This is only the first stage and there is still a long way to go.”
He thanked everyone involved in the ‘arduous and complex’ process from John Boucher and the FCC’s engineers, to the consultees and also both of the planning officers at Broxtowe and Amber Valley, Peter Langford and Helen Frith, who had to collate all the information and convert it into a workable solution.
David added: “Obviously, our next focus will be on funding because now we have a plan. We will of course never turn away any willing volunteers who would like to play a role in history by reinstating a key part of our rich industrial heritage here in the Erewash Valley, the Cromford Canal.”
If you would like to get involved in any way, please email chairman@ cromfordcanal.org or call chairman David Martin on 07976 764439.