A 40-year battle to breathe new life into the historic Shrewsbury and Newport canal looks set to end in victory thanks to a six-figure-sum cash injection, it was revealed today.Telford & Wrekin Council is remaining tight-lipped about the exact size of the funding but it is believed to be a six-figure sum. It will be used to buy the stretch of the canal, warehouse buildings and the basin at Wappenshall, near Newport.
Members of Telford and Wrekin Council’s ruling cabinet last night agreed to stump up the money to get the restoration ball rolling.
The move was described as “wonderful” by leaders of the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust.
The decision will have to be ratified at a meeting of the full council on June 26 but if it is rubberstamped it will pave the way for the trust and the authority to work in partnership to redevelop the site, bring it back into use and create a new magnet for visitors.
Councillor Eric Carter, cabinet member for regeneration, said: “I think this is a bold recommendation we will be taking to council but is one that shows just how serious we are about regeneration in this borough.”
Trust chairman Chris Chambers said: “It’s wonderful. We have been fighting since 1968 to make this a reality and now, after all these years, to get something tangible, to get Telford & Wrekin on board, is super.”
11 Comments
excellent news, although it won’t reopen in my lifetime, i can look back to fishing in the canal at withington and my 94 year old mother remembers being in a horse drawn barge at withington. good luck to all concerned. any chance of donations from scc and s & a councils?
Great news! Good for tourism, jobs and the environment.
They’ll need much more than a six figure sum to get the canal under or over the A41 Newport bypass in order to re-connect it at Norbury. I think they’ve forgotten about that… It’s a pipe dream.
This is great news and i have posted it on boatsandcanals.co.uk forum
Come on Shropshire Star, lets get it right, Wappenshall is not “near Newport” it is about 1 Kilometer from Leegomery near wellington.
Between Newport and Wappenshall the “Cut” is nearly all filled in so it would be better to use the money to repair the 16 locks at Norbury and the the Cut to the basin at Newport before wasting it on some far out place that would waste all the money provided and not see any return.
Without that strech repaired there would not be any Narrow boats going anywhere on the Norbury to Shrewsbury stretch.
The Canal Trust has done a great job here. This is the ‘key’ that will open up the rest of this canal - despite what H St John Peasbody thinks. The A41 bypass already has a planned solution detailed in the Feasibility study; it is NOT a pipe dream. Peter from Newport does not realise the comparatively low cost of opening up the stretch he mentions and it is much more important to retain the historically importnat buildings at Wapenshall. This funding ‘trickle’ will start a waterfall. Well done the Tust!
excuse my ignorance but where was the terminus of the canal in shrewsbury? was it in ditherington or near the butter market, can anyone say. sorry was only 12 when i left gods own premier town!
great news!! easy to get the canal under the a41 just move one lock and tunnel underneath as on the restored rochdale canal in sowerby bridge yorks. not to mention all the other obstructions overcome on this and the restored huddersfield narrow canal. tourism /jobs makes it all worth while!! dr . peter ackroyd dawley medical
I can remember the canal in the 1940s. My grandparents lived in Broomfield Place, Newport about 50 yards from Tickethouse Lock where we used to fish, swim and play to our hearts content. The nearby fields were in their natural state then, cornflowers, poppies, primroses and every wild flower imaginable. Mushrooming at 6.0am in August/September would give us enough for a slap-up breakfast then later we would go blackberrying along the towpath for our tea. Those were the days. Many years later, after a lifetime spent travelling the world, I returned to find Broomfield Place and my grandparents cottage gone, the canal was derelict and virtually filled in and “progress” had taken it’s “backward” hold. Many years later still we returned again, the canal had been restored to Tickethouse Lock, the water and the banks from Lower Bar were pristine, a pair of swans had youngsters and, for a short time I returned to the time of being a kiddy again, I laid ghosts, remembered friends and relations long since dead and wished for those times to return to rid us of this mad, mad world that the politicians have given to us.
For those that have carried out work on the canal already, a huge thank you. For those with it in hand, the best of everything in your endeavours, no matter what part of the canal is to be restored, it will brighten someones world somewhere. Given 25 years on the right side, I would be swinging a pick or shovel with you. Good Luck.
a few people who have extended their gardens over the dried up bed will hopefully have a shock in about 10/20 years time
I have always dreamed of owning and living on a canal narrow boat but was always upset there never seemed to be any around here. So happy that this is going to happen and maybe one day my lil dream will come true too!!