£60,000 awarded to Whitchurch canal project
More than £60,000 has been awarded to a group behind an ambitious scheme to extend a stretch of canal in Whitchurch.
Whitchurch Waterway Trust wants to extend the arm of the Shropshire Union Canal at Chemistry into the town and create a mooring basin.
They have been awarded funding of £61,000 from European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) towards the £650,000 scheme.
This will allow the group to make a start carrying out groundworks at the site to encourage canal-related tourism to Whitchurch.
The group previously had a bid for funding turned down from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Helen Brockman, secretary of Whitchurch Waterway Trust, said: "The challenge has been identifying an area of work which could be done within the amount of funding available, and which improved tourism in Whitchurch, while making progress towards the canal extension and basin.
"We were told EAFRD has awarded us funding of just over £61,000.
"This will not build the canal extension and basin, but we are hopeful that it will allow us to make a start and leave the site in an improved state which will encourage canal-related tourism to Whitchurch.
"It will also benefit Whitchurch residents, as a 'meantime' use while we seek further funding towards the new basin.
"There are still a few issues to be sorted out but further soil contamination tests required by planning have been done, costing more than £13,000, and have so far not revealed any significant problems.
"There will be some levelling of the ground, improvement of existing paths to a wheelchair-friendly standard, creation of a new accessible path and a new picnic area.
"A fence will be erected between the path and the brook to protect the water vole habitat from dogs and walkers.
"The fence will have temporary sheeting to keep construction debris away from the water voles during work."
Plans for the small arm extension to the canal near the Wrexham Road entrance to the town were approved by Shropshire Council at the end of 2013.
Planning permission would have ran out for the trust in November if work had not started by then/
The trust has said 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 whitchurchwaterway.org.uk
