Canal restoration project set to move forward after visit

In the expectation that formal arrangements for work on Schoolhouse Bridge on the Montgomery Canal will soon be finalised, the site has been visited by the Inland Waterways Association’s Waterway Recovery Group. They have undertaken a week of preparatory tasks, ready for the hoped-for start of the project in the spring.

Schoolhouse Bridge, near Crickheath, Oswestry, is the last highway blockage in Shropshire and one of the obstructions that must be removed to reopen the canal into Mid Wales.

The bridge rebuild will involve closing the highway known as Long Lane. digging out the embankment across the canal, constructing the bridge and restoring the highway – all in a matter of months.

The Waterway Recovery Group normally runs canal camps through the year at any of the 50 or so restorations across England and Wales.

Camps were not possible in 2020 and it was only recently that the group decided that conditions would allow a limited number of Covid-secure work parties this year.

The Schoolhouse Bridge team members were delighted to have been chosen for one of these, and were pleased too that Porthywaen Silver Band, near Oswestry, was able to help by providing accommodation for the volunteers in the Silver Band Hall.

Michael Limbrey, Chairman, Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust said, “Leading councillors were very positive when we made our proposal to reconstruct this last highway blockage in Shropshire. It is however a very unusual project; it’s not often that a bunch of volunteers wants to close a public highway and rebuild a bridge over a derelict canal.

“Members of our team of volunteers have between them many years’ experience in engineering and project management and our discussions with the legal teams of Shropshire Council and the Canal & River Trust have involved a minute examination of the project procedures.

"We hope to be signing the various agreements very soon so if we can finalise the formalities soon we think we should be able to start next spring.

“We are delighted that the national Waterway Recovery Group selected our project as one of only four for a very limited programme this summer. Normally, they would operate some 20 work parties through the year at canal restorations right across England and Wales. Lockdown has now affected the group for two seasons and only very recently were they able to decide to run any work parties this year.

“Volunteers aged from 17 to 75 came from across the West Midlands and further afield, including County Durham, Leicestershire and around London.

“When the main project gets under way we shall use specialists for major elements but it is only with the help of volunteers that we can keep the cost within the charity funds we have raised. We can help with training and can offer experience that will help anyone looking to work in construction, or indeed looking to wind down after a working life on site. This week’s preparation will help us off to a flying start next year.”

As well as recruiting volunteers for this intensive programme of bridge building next year, other volunteers of the regular Shropshire Union Canal Society group will be working to finish restoring the canal to Crickheath Basin, the next point at which boats will turn, so opening up a further one-and-a-quarter miles of canal.

A spokesman for the Porthywaen Silver Band said, “We are very pleased to have been able to help the Waterway Recovery Group with accommodation again.

"We had to stop band practices last year so this will be the first time anyone has used the hall for nearly eighteen months. We have had a few practices outside and hope that in September beginners and starter groups will playing inside once more.”