Whitchurch Waterway Trust will hold talks with British Waterways this month to seek assurances about the long-term future of their plans.

The trust has been gathering public support and is preparing plans to build a water park at Stag’s Brook and extend the town’s canal – a scheme which is expected to cost up to £2.5 million.

Chris Goodwin, trust chairman, said they were not relying on assistance to get the development up and running, but would have to discuss the matter of long-term maintenance at the meeting.

He said: “We don’t know if this announcement will affect our plans at this point in time, but hopefully it won’t.

“I don’t think it will cause any problems immediately, but in the long term we just don’t know.

“We have a meeting with British Waterways at the end of this month that was already arranged, so this matter will be on the agenda now.

“We are not up and running yet so we don’t need any support from British Waterways at the moment, but long-term maintenance is something we have to discuss.”

Fears for the future of the county’s canals have been expressed since British Waterways announced plans to axe 180 jobs by April 2007 following budget cuts by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The economies of Whitchurch, Ellesmere and Market Drayton all benefit from the canals.