Droitwich Canal - Restoration

Restoration

The problem of what to do with the canals was regularly debated by Droitwich Borough Council in 1963, and a campaign for their restoration was started by M. Sinclair, who suggested that restoration could be completed in under two years. The council realised the potential amenity value of the canal, and the concept was aired in the Worcester Evening News, which carried an illustracted article on 14 June 1966. A restoration group was formed in 1969, as part of a national drive by the Inland Waterways Association called Safeguarding Britain's Waterways, which led to the formation in 1973 of the Droitwich Canals Trust, a limited company with local authority support, which began to work towards the restoration of the canal. In 1975, the canal was one of thirteen to benefit from the Job Creation Scheme, set up by the Manpower Services Commission, which provided paid workers to work on restoration and maintenance.

Funding came from various sources. These included £200,000 from Wychavon District Council in 1980, which funded work in Vines Park, including a mooring basin, while a new swing bridge was funded by an award from Shell. The following year, the Manpower Services Commission provided 15 workers with a budget of £19,000 for materials. The section of the barge canal through Vines Park was opened in October 1986, enabling the Trust's trip-boat to provide longer trips. An engineering feasibility study was carried out in 1994, which concluded that restoration was certainly possible, and would bring with it economic benefits to the region. It was presented to a packed meeting in Worcester Town Hall, at which the problems of passing beneath the A449 at Hawford and of ensuring an adequate water supply were identified. The scheme had the support of the local authorities, who were keen to identify sources of funding, without which the restoration was unlikely to be completed.

In 2002, British Waterways held their Unlocked and Unlimited conference, which identified that completion of the Droitwich scheme would require some £9.5 million. Two years later, the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded £4.6 million for the project, with other funding provided by Advantage West Midlands and the local councils. As part of this, British Waterways took over the lease of the canals from the Canal Trust. A Planning Application for the restoration was submitted by British Waterways on behalf of the Droitwich Canals Restoration Partnership in May 2007, by which time a total of £10.5 million had been promised, some of which was dependent on match funding, and the Restoration Partnership needed to raise £1 million in order to release the other funding.

The project was planned to take two years, with both of the Droitwich Canals completely restored and re-opened in 2009. Although the majority of the 7-mile (11 km) length of the canals was still in existence, a 550-yard (500 m) stretch between the M5 motorway and Hanbury Locks had to be completely rebuilt. The existing culvert for the Body Brook has been used to allow the canal to pass under the motorway.

The Barge Canal and the Junction Canal have been connected together by canalising a 600-yard (550 m) stretch of the River Salwarpe through the centre of Droitwich. The course of the river has been made wider and deeper, and a weir has been constructed adjacent to the new lock 7, to maintain the water levels. In order to minimise the mixing of canal water with river water, a pipeline has been built under the towpath, running from just above lock 7 to just below the Barge Lock. The river improvements were to be partially funded by a Section 106 agreement, as part of a housing development along the river bank, but the withdrawal of the developer from the scheme resulted in delays, which put back the full opening of the canal. The Droitwich Barge Canal opened officially on 11 September 2010, and the whole canal was completed by mid-2011, with the official opening scheduled for 1 July.