Running dry again

SINKING feeling . . . the Rochdale Canal could be forced to close

More cash needed to halt canal closure

PICTURESQUE Rochdale Canal, restored with £22m of Lottery cash only six years ago, is at risk of closure unless more money is found for repairs and maintenance.

A whopping £500,000 is needed — each year — to keep the waterway open. More boating and leisure users together with better exploitation of the land next to it is now a must.

Consultants Taylor Young’s findings for the Rochdale Canal Corridor Regeneration Strategy 2008 say stagnation is the main threat.

Their report states: “The canal has only been fully restored for five years but it is already struggling to maintain its basic functions and benefit from regeneration efforts.”

It needs a steering group to maximise funding, manage priorities, plan and deliver projects — and raise the canal’s profile, Taylor Young say.

Structural faults — such as the collapse in Chadderton which closed the canal for 14 months in 2005 and cost £1.27 million to repair — could happen again, they warn.

As well as the expense, the closure damaged the canal’s popularity.

A 2007 study estimated that up to four million visits are made to the canal each year, with visitors spending around £18 million, or an additional £4.1 million for the local economy.

But only around £1 million of that comes from tourists, and roughly half comes from local residents.

Most of the boating takes place at the eastern end, from Sowerby Bridge to Littleborough — restored in 1996.

Visitors are put off because of safety and anti-social behaviour problems in urban and industrial areas to the west.

The report adds: “In particular, where the canal passes through urban or industrial areas, limited human activity creates an environment for anti-social behaviour.

“Such concerns might currently prevent boaters, locals and tourists from using the canal and canal sides.”

Litter picking is essential, so is enhancing neglected, derelict or “dead” space along the canal corridor, for wildlife, community and visitors’ benefit.

The report is now due to be discussed by councillors at a meeting tonight.

William Lees-Jones is the managing director of Lees Brewery which has two high profile local canalside pubs — the Rose of Lancaster at Mills Hill and the Boat and Horses, off Broadway, Chadderton.

He said: “I think there has been a problem with the canal restoration since its inception. A turning circle near the Boat and Horses was not big enough and there is also a problem with a bridge near another of our pubs, the Blue Pits at Slattocks.

“It takes years to build keenness from people who have narrow boats.

“We always thought the restoration of the canal was a good idea — all the way into Manchester we have quite a few pubs on it. It was always going to be challenging, but it’s clear it doesn’t work.”