Planning approval has been granted for the development of a new section of the Lichfield Canal, between Cricket Lane and London Road in Lichfield.
The site is a section of the historic, currently disused Ogley Locks section of the Wyrley & Essington Canal, which was closed in 1954.
We are restoring the Lichfield Canal to establish a navigable gateway, from the Coventry Canal via Lichfield, to the Birmingham Canal Navigations and creating a green and blue corridor for the benefit of the community.
This planning approval includes the construction of a 650 metre water-tight canal channel from London Road to the existing old Lock 24 in Borrowcop Locks Canal Park, a new lock to the west of Cricket Lane, a lift bridge linking Longbridge Road with Tamworth Road, and new pedestrian steps from Gallows Wharf to London Road.
Derek Lord, Planning and Technical Trustee, with LHCRT, said:
“This is a huge milestone for us and we can now start the long-awaited work on the canal along Tamworth Road, creating a full length of channel from Borrowcop Locks Canal Park to St John’s Grange.
“The first stage will be to build the canal channel from London Road and install the pedestrian liftbridge to give access from Longbridge Road to Tamworth Road, for which we raised substantial funds through our Big Give appeal. Our volunteers will then continue to build the canal channel towards Cricket Lane and make it water-ready.“
Our aim is to get as much of the canal in water as soon as possible, so we will incorporate stop planks or dams along the route to enable this to happen. We will also carry out additional landscaping work with planting, including more trees, to increase biodiversity.”
The canal already has a completed section at Borrowcop Locks Canal Park and a partly-prepared channel at St John’s Grange, with two canal culverts, which were constructed by Amey for Persimmon Homes. Amey will also install an additional canal culvert beneath Cricket Lane, as part of the new Persimmon Homes housing development at that location.
More information
Details of the work and further updates will be available on www.lhcrt.org.uk/gallows-reach
