Canal blocked by Soot Hill landslip
ANOTHER of the effects of Storm Cristoph in January 2021 has been a landslip blocking the Trent & Mersey canal near Anderton in Cheshire.
Earth, rocks and trees were deposited into the canal from an embankment between bridges 200 and 201 north of Anderton at Soot Hill, just before Barnton tunnel.
Engineers from the Canal & River Trust have been working on a plan to repair the slip and reopen the canal but have been faced with some significant problems.
The embankment will need to be stabilised before the canal can be cleared. But complications include houses at the top, a public footpath over the black and white bridge, a main gas pipe crossing the canal and the site is not easily accessible to machinery.
It may be necessary to drain the canal for the construction of a temporary roadway in the canal bed to gain access.
In the meantime a pipe has been installed along the towpath side of the canal to maintain water levels in the area.
Canal & River Trust contractors have been on site looking at ways to safely allow boat movement through the affected area without destabilising the embankment, slipped material within the canal or the gas main. A further update was due by April 20.
The Cheshire cruising ring could be unavailable for some time and any boaters who want to travel from northern waters to the south will need to travel through Manchester and down the Peak Forest and Macclesfield canals – as we went to press, the latter was closed due to an issue with a culvert in Macclesfield.