Historic canal impacted by power station closure

AN UNINTENDED consequence of the fight against climate change, the closure of a fossil fuel power station near Warrington, has resulted in a drop in canal water levels affecting wildlife and fish stocks.

Pumps supplying the Sankey Canal with water were turned off following the decommissioning of the power station in 2020. The canal is now suffering from low water levels from Fiddlers Ferry to Spike Island.

This was the first canal of the industrial revolution, opening in 1757 – four years before the Bridgewater Canal – which was used to carry coal from the St Helens area to Liverpool, locking down into the River Mersey at Sankey bridges near Warrington. It was eventually extended past Fiddlers Ferry to lock down into the Mersey at Spike Island in Widnes.

Commercial traffic finished on the canal in 1959 and the canal fell into dereliction.

However since 1983 it had been supplied by water from the power station which opened in the early 1970s. At the height of production it could use up to 195 million litres of water a day, drawn from the River Mersey and some of it made its way back into the river via the Sankey Canal.

The canal is maintained by Halton Borough Council which has organised a fish rescue and for a time was funding pumps to fill the canal. These have now ceased although the council is seeking a long-term solution.

The canal under the Mersey Gateway Bridge which opened in 2017 to ease traffic pressures on the nearby Runcorn Bridge. The Sankey Canal with low water levels near Carterhouse with the decommissioned Fiddlers Ferry power station in the background.