Victory in fight to preserve canal restoration route
VOLUNTEERS from the Inland Waterways Association and the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust are celebrating after a local authority turned down proposals for a development which would have blocked the future restoration of the Uttoxeter Canal in Staffordshire.
Among the hundreds of people supporting the campaign for the restoration to be saved were Sir David and Lady Sheila Suchet, well-known canal supporters.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council planners rejected the application for 48 new houses and restoration of a Listed farmhouse, partially on a greenfield site which has not been allocated for housing in the Local Plan.
Over 300 objections had been submitted with many citing the future restoration of the canal as their primary objection.
Alison Smedley, deputy chairman of IWA North Staffordshire & South Cheshire Branch, said: “We are just relieved that common sense has prevailed. There is no other viable route available for the canal – the alternatives put forward by the developer simply don’t stack up.
“We don’t object to part of the site being developed for housing, as allocated in the Local Plan, provided the development allows for the future restoration of the Uttoxeter Canal and also doesn’t undermine the stability of the Caldon Canal embankment and its retaining wall.”
The first lock and basin of the canal at Froghall were restored in 2005 in a partnership project between volunteers, British Waterways and local authorities, backed by European funding. The proposed development site is next to this popular location, which is always busy with visiting boaters, tourists and walkers.
With no route allowed in the plans for future restoration of the canal, the development would have prevented the rest of the Uttoxeter Canal from ever joining on to the navigable Caldon Canal and the inland waterway network.
The planning committee was unanimous in refusing the application, for a wide range of reasons including: the application not meeting the aspirations for mixed use of the site; flood and transport concerns; the integrity of the adjacent Caldon Canal embankment; the appropriateness of the design of the houses for a rural location; and the harm to the future restoration of the Uttoxeter Canal.
The two waterway charities have been campaigning about the impact the development would have on the canal restoration since the planning application was first placed seven months ago, and in that time have seen support from across the country from boaters and others keen to see the canal restored one day.
Rupert Smedley, who spoke on behalf of the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust at the planning applications committee meeting, said: “An opportunity exists for the developers to embrace the canal and benefit from it throughout the former Boltons Copperworks site.
“Examples exist across the country and within Staffordshire where developers have done just this, such as in Lichfield, and we remain very willing to meet with the developers to discuss alternative plans for the site that would allow for the future restoration of the canal.”