Hostility to Montgomery restoration

A VERY annoying thing about restoration work on the Montgomery Canal (lack of) is the amount of money spent on plans that are then ignored as the next one comes along, a contributor tells us.

One classic was the plan for restoration by Stephen Lees who was taken on by British Waterways as an independent person though after the plan was in place he worked for British Waterways for some years. His plan cost over £100,000 and was hailed (at the time) as the plan for restoring the canal from Queens Head to near Newtown.

Stopped by wildlife groups

Needless to say the various wildlife groups were unhappy with bits of the plan, though it was a very balanced document, so it rapidly disappeared from public view until nowadays there is no trace of it online. Not only that, but no one who now has connections with the canal seems to even remember the plan's existence.

Which begs the question—who controls the future canal planning and plans?

Hostility

First in the list comes the green lobby who can seemingly change the goalposts at will with its hostility to restoration for boats.

Next comes Canal & River Trust that controls boat numbers and already admits that it sold the water originally for the Montgomery for commercial reasons in 1989. This, the then manager stated, means that the numbers of boats allowed through Frankton now will not change in future, and even this number is subject to water being available—a fact which has already closed the canal on one dry summer a few years back.

Rare plant that wasn't

Finally comes the power of those in high places who can cause SSSIs like the one that was on the Maesbury section from 1997 to 2003 to be magicked in overnight for a rare plant. And then reversed equally quickly when it suits the powers that be who find the rare plant is common, and British Waterways get £2 million to restore the section—or part of it.

Given this lot it's a safe bet that most of the canal will stay closed to boats well beyond our lifetime.