A ‘PAINSTAKING’ restoration of Warwickshire’s canals is set to be carried out this winter.
The £520,000 project by The Canal and River Trust is part of a five-month winter maintenance programme on waterways across England and Wales.
The charity – which cares for 2,000 miles of the nation’s historic waterways – is starting its annual restoration programme which includes repairs to canal walls, aqueducts, tunnels, bridges and the replacement of some lock gates, including on the Grand Union Canal near Warwick Parkway station, and between Wilmcote and Stratford, on the South Stratford Canal.
Other works will see gates, walls and cills – which the lock gates rest against to form a watertight seal – repaired at a number of locks on the North Stratford Canal.
Sections of the canal will be drained as old lock gates are lifted out and replaced, and 200 year-old brickwork carefully restored.
The trust will move fish from affected sections to allow water levels to be lowered
Waterways manager Ian Lane said: “These works are all about caring for Warwickshire’s canals so that they can continue to play an important role in people’s daily lives for many years to come.
“If the Canal and River Trust didn’t carry out works such as these then boats couldn’t visit the area and local people wouldn’t have a safe, enjoyable place to get away from it all.
“Over the next few months our engineers and heritage experts will be braving the cold to give the canals the painstaking care and attention they deserve.”
Visit www.canalrivertrust.org.uk to find out more.
