OnTheCut

Apologies for the delay in reopening the canal – but whilst carrying out a localised bed repair for a leak identified during the culvert repair work, a further, more detailed bed survey was undertaken and the results showed the bed repairs were needed over a greater area than originally planned. The contractor is onsite currently completing the bed reline and is now scheduled to complete the work to reopen navigation on 1 March 2024.

As you will be aware from our previous update, additional work was added into the programme due to the leak found from the canal bed into the culvert.

The current enabling works for the culvert repair is taking place from the towpath and as such we now need to add additional temporary works to create a ramp into the canal to get a larger excavator on site.

We have explored the option of a temporary repair to the bed, refilling and coming back later in the year to do a full repair but have concluded the best approach is to complete the repair.

Therefore we need to extend the closure until the 23 February 2024 and we apologise for the inconvenience this may cause our boating customers.

During the dam installation, the contractors could not get a significant seal on it and as a result the cofferdam failed.

Upon investigation, a leak from the canal bed into the culvert has been found and this requires a full repair to avoid further deterioration and risk of failure in the future.

It will be more cost effective for the Trust to do the full repair whilst already on site rather than return at a later date.

We have made the decision to keep the navigation closed until the 31 January 2024, unfortunately this does mean the navigation will now be closed over Christmas.

We apologise for the added unplanned inconvenience this may cause our boating customers.