An essential element in the restoration of the Lichfield Canal will be built and paid for by the developers of a new housing and business estate.
The commitment to build a bridge to take Cricket Lane over the canal is included in plans by Persimmon Homes and St Modwen developments to provide 520 homes and a business park on land to the south of Lichfield which have been approved by city planners.
The new bridge will allow us to connect the Borrowcop and Gallows Reach sections, which run alongside Tamworth Road.
A humpback bridge carried Cricket Lane over the canal when it was built at the end of the 18th Century, but the road was levelled after the canal was abandoned in the 1950s.
The new bridge will allow a lowered channel to run under Cricket Lane, allowing a safe route across the busy road, and a new Lock 24 will be built to the west of Cricket Lane to raise the canal as it goes towards the heritage London Road bridge.
In preparation for the bridge building, our volunteers have removed the old Lock 24, built a new buttressed wall, and have begun lowering the channel to the required level.
The joint developers have also agreed to provide a continuous open space network along the course of the Lichfield Canal route giving access to future waterside recreation uses.
Peter Buck, LHCRT Construction and Operations Trustee, said:
“We’re very pleased that Persimmon and St Modwen are supporting us by building a bridge and channel under Cricket Lane. This develops on our sound relationship with Persimmon on the St John’s Grange development. The approval of the planning application secures the future for this section of the Lichfield Canal. Cricket Lane has historical importance for Lichfield; it was part of Ryknild Street, the Roman Road that ran from Gloucestershire to South Yorkshire. And we are recreating a piece of local history by building the Heritage Towpath Tail. This will be the first new bridge under an existing road on the Lichfield Canal route and the towpath will provide a safe way to cross Cricket Lane, which is a notoriously difficult crossing.”
Planning permission has already been approved for the Cricket Lane bridge and we have now submitted a planning application to construct the canal either side of Cricket Lane. This will link both sides of the new bridge, from old lock 24 to the London Road canal bridge.
Update: See the Gallows Reach project page for more details.
Archive photos of the old Cricket Lane canal bridge
