Restoring the 'Monty'

RESTORING the Montgomery Canal has always been a slow job, as Harry Arnold and what must now be thousands of other volunteers will testify. But I think the problems are currently much more about funding than any hostility, (Hostility to Montgomery restoration) writes Stephen Lees.

The Conservation Management Strategy is as far as I am aware alive and well, and remains the basis for the restoration plans. While it did disappear from the internet for a while, when the CaRT website was launched, it has been back on-line for some time at:

http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/enterprise/natural-environment/restoring-the-montgomery-canal.

I know, because they asked me to send them copies of various reports; many of the old British Waterways pages were deleted before they had been transferred to the new web site!

Volunteers

Some people come and go, but there are plenty of faces who are still the same. Not least all the Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers who are close to rewatering the next section of canal, to Prices Bridge, in the Spring.

The Society have kept the restoration going in the absence of major grants, and the commitment shown by them, and other volunteers, has also been vital evidence to help attract those major grants. With a successful Stage 1 bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund, the omens now look good for a further £3.9 million towards the restoration.

Water supply

Water supply was also mentioned, and that will always be a problem. Supplying the Hurlestone Reservoir does make good money for CaRT, and indeed once helped secure the future of the Llangollen Canal itself. However there should be enough spare for the proposed increase in boat movements on the Shropshire length of the Monty. Always assuming leakage on the Llangollen Canal doesn't get any worse....