OnTheCut

Please be advised that the towpath remains closed in this area until at least May. Due to ongoing challenges accessing the land near the slippage site, work cannot recommence. We are closely monitoring weather conditions and will resume as soon as it is safe to do so.

Please note, the site remains unsafe, particularly following recent storms such as last weekend's. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to ensure the safety of all. If you notice any damage to the barriers, please inform us on 0303 040 4040.

We still require the area to remain closed due to additional slippage on the towpath, which is deemed unsafe for public use. At this time, we do not have a timeframe for reopening, but we are actively investigating the removal of the slippage.

We will provide an update on or before Friday 29th November.

We continue to experience restricted access to the site, so the towpath remains closed. We are exploring the possibility of carrying out some temporary remedial work to open it up outside the main works. In the meantime, if you notice any damage to the barriers, please inform us on 0303 040 4040.

We'll provide a further update on or before Friday 25th October.

Unfortunately, contractors have encountered some difficulties accessing the land by the slippage site. We are liaising with the landowner and hope to have works resumed soon.

We'll provide a further update on or before Friday 20th September.

Contractors are making good progress, but the towpath needs to remain closed here.

We'll provide the next update by Friday 23rd August.

Please be advised the towpath will need to remain closed until mid-September.

Contractors are regrading and excavation 2 slippage sites on and adjacent to the towpath, using heavy plant and equipment. The towpath will need to stay closed until works are complete as there is a serious risk to the public of injury while this work is taking place, either from falling material or from the plant and equipment.

We'll provide another update on or before Friday 16th August.

We're pleased to advise navigation is no longer restricted.

The towpath needs to remain closed until further notice. We'll provide the next update for that on or before Friday 28th June.

Navigation will be open from 4:30pm today, and will be open all weekend.

The below restrictions will apply in the week while the team complete repair works.

We're pleased to advise the navigation will be open on Friday 17th May from 3pm. We've cleared the material from the navigation, but we're currently still working with large machines directly adjacent to the canal edge, and there's still some debris and overhanging trees in the vicinity that we need to clear up before we open on Friday.

The navigation will be fully open for the weekend, however during the working week we'll need to impose some restrictions while we continue to clear material and start to re-grade and reinstate the bank.

From Monday to Friday, we'll need to stop boat traffic during the following times:

- 8am to 10am

- 11am to 1pm

- 2pm to 4:30pm

We kindly ask boaters to wait before Bridge 34, or before the Brinklow Arm. Please avoid mooring up within the cutting, or even stopping to get off to look at the site at any time. We'll likely need these restrictions for a few weeks, but we'll aim to provide an update each week, dependent upon how well the work progresses.

The towpath will remain closed until all the reinstatement works are completed, which we're aiming for the end of June/early July.

We're currently still on track to re-open navigation on 18th May. The towpath will need to remain closed for longer than this.

Thank you for your patience. We'll provide further updates as soon as we receive them.

We're continuing to make good progress, and have commenced excavating our way down the bank to get to the canal edge to commence the navigation clearance.

There is no change to the forecast date for the opening of navigation at the moment.

Water levels have been seen to be dropping on the North side of the cutting, but we've now installed pumps to increase and then maintain the levels.

The team are making good progress, and have installed an access track in the field above the cutting to allow larger plant and wagons to take material away so we can safely access the site. Long reach machines are being delivered which will then allow us to excavate down the side of the cutting to access the canal. We're also installing access roads to the other slip site, and preparing the ground for temporary storage of materials and access down the bank.

We're still on programme to open the navigation for the middle of May. We'll provide further updates as soon as we receive them.

We need to advise that an extension is required to this stoppage. Unfortunately, the continued wet weather has made working on the site very difficult as the saturation of the exposed slip face and slumped material is making the area unstable. We cannot currently clear any material from the navigation or the side of the canal, for fear of further slips. Due to this, we're planning to access the cutting across adjacent fields to dig down an access road to clear some of the slumped material, and then excavate the material from the navigation. We'll need to construct a 300m access road before we can start the excavation, and then continue to work in a careful progressive manner to manage the risks of further slips.

The navigation closure will therefore need to be extended beyond 6th April. With the revised plan, our current aim is to re-open the navigation by 18th May. This is still subject to change, depending on weather conditions as we progress with the works, and what potential damage has occurred to the towpath wall, which we won't know until we start excavation.

Thank you for your patience and support in resolving this challenge.

The team have made good progress and cleared all the trees and vegetation adjacent to the slip area. We have also commenced work to remove some of the slipped material.

The slip is very extensive, and there is still movement, both on the exposed main slip face and on the isolated sections opposite. The initial estimate of the volume of material that we need to move is in the order of 4000 tonnes. We face challenges over the stability of the exposed clipped face, and the material that has stockpiled. In addition, due to the weather, there has also been another minor slip adjacent to the nearby Bridge 84.

We're keeping the end date the same for now, but given the challenges we face, this date may change. We'll provide another update as soon as we receive one, and certainly by Friday 22nd March.

Our team are working hard to restore navigation as soon as possible, however we anticipate it will be at least six weeks before we can open the navigation again. The towpath will need to stay closed for longer than this.

We've commenced works to clear the trees at the main slip site. It is anticipated to take a further week to complete these works. Once the tree clearance work is complete, we'll start to clear the debris from the navigation. This will be challenging as we'll need to load it on to hoppers and take off site, although we're planning on working from both sides of the slip to reduce time.

We'll know more once the excavation of debris has commenced, and we'll provide updates to this notice as soon as we receive them.

Due to heavy rainfall, a significant landslip on an 18m high cutting has completely blocked the canal and towpath. We're working with our contractors to develop a plan to start to clear the large trees and debris from the canal. Unfortunately these works are in an awkward location, meaning it could take longer to resolve. Taking into account the popularity of the North Oxford Canal, as recently noted by our lockage reports, our priority is to re-open navigation as soon as possible.

We'll aim to provide a further update on Friday 23rd February, once our contractors have assessed the situation.

Please be advised the towpath will be closed from Aqueduct 4. The towpath will be open south of the Fosse Way as far as the aqueduct, with access to the public right of way going west back to B4428 Fosse Way. At the southern end the towpath will be closed at Bridge 34.

Our Engineers are currently on site investigating and we should be able to provide a further update later today. (08/02/24)

*Winding holes updated