last U.K. Canal System Sought

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30823, 7 August 1965, Page 15

last U.K. Canal System Sought

(Special Crxydl N Z PAJ LONDON. Aug. 6 A three-stage programme costing £7lltm for a modern waterways system for Britain has been submitted by the Inland Waterways Association to Lord Hinton, who is investigating the co-ordination of national transport. The association has been campaigning for a change from merely trying to preserve the picturesqueness of waterways to asserting the necessity for the type of large canals being built throughout the Continent. Stage one would be alterations. improvements and extensions to the existing system costing nearly £2om Stage two would be the construction of a new system to take barges and coasters of up to about 1350 tons. It would cost about £39om and would involve building about 300 miles of a grand contour canal to link the river Thames with south-west Lancashire. The canal would be connected with the rivers Trent Lea. Severn and Weaver by lift and would comprise a navigable 575 miles

The final stage, connecting Southampton with the Tyne and Tees would cost another £3oom. As well as being used for transport, the report says that canals could be the main water distributor in the coun try and could also be used for power generation and land drainage.