Funding blow for £650k town canal project

Whitchurch Waterway Trust has had its bid for lottery funding to be able to extend the canal arm into the town and create a mooring basin rejected.

The bid, which was for the full amount for the project and which would have been partly spent on the groundworks required to level the site and install accessible pathways, was turned down by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Members behind the project have admitted they are now having to rethink how it will be carried out.

A statement on the trust's website said: "The complete development would have a cost of around £650,000 if the work was completed entirely by contractors, and the trust has attempted to seek funding for this amount from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"We were not entirely surprised to be unsuccessful with this bid, but the application was a useful exercise which gave us the focus to produce detailed plans and to form an enthusiastic team of volunteers committed to the success of the project.

"The main barrier to obtaining lottery funding is that new roads and housing occupy some of the original canal route towards town, making a simple restoration of the old canal impossible.

"This means that although the project seeks to further restore Whitchurch's historic connection to the main canal network, it is technically considered a new development and so was not favoured by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"Undeterred, even in a time where funding is ever more difficult to come by, we have taken the pragmatic approach of structuring the overall project into a number of more affordable and achievable phases.

"We are currently working on a plan initially to focus on landscaping and path improvements, all consistent with the ultimate aim of building the full canal basin.

"We are putting a lot of thought into these plans as we wish to maximise the short term benefit to Whitchurch residents while adopting an approach which lends itself to the use, wherever possible, of a volunteer workforce and resources donated by local companies."

The statement adds: "Current planning permission for the basin development expires in November 2016 so we are very keen to make a start, however small, before that time."

Plans for the small arm extension to the Shropshire Union Canal near the Wrexham Road entrance to the town were approved by Shropshire Council at the end of 2013.

The trust believes the scheme will provide an attractive addition to the town's country park and enhance the local area.

It said the project was supported by 80 per cent of local people in a survey carried out in preparation for the town and parish plan.

For more details about the project visit www.whitchurchwaterway.org.uk