The most essential repair

YOU have inadvertently overlooked what I would regard as the most essential repair on the inland waterways system namely, the breach on the Aire & Calder Navigations, writes Jonathan Mosse.

This is a commercial waterway, carrying freight and the cost implications of closure are therefore significant.  The waterway carries oil traffic to Rotherham and the recently revitalised aggregate flow—this time sea-dredged sand from Hull to Leeds—was just starting to build up.

Threatening the commercial viability

Delay in re-opening the canal not only undermines customer confidence, threatening the commercial viability of freight traffic on the inland waterways, it also compromises the livelihoods of the barge operating companies and CaRT's income from tolls.