CANAL & RIVER TRUST COUNCIL Report by Julie Sharman, Head of Asset Management and Performance

March 2016 Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust and Response

Overview The flooding across the north of over Christmas 2015 affected Canal & River Trust waterways across the region, most notably along the Rochdale Canal, and Calder & Hebble Navigation, and on the Aire & Calder Navigation in Leeds.

In total, it is estimated that repairs will cost circa £15m to repair. Large scale infrastructure damage has occurred to bridges and embankments, with landslides and breaches, and throughout the waterways extensive damage has occurred to towpaths where they have been scoured and washed away, necessitating their closure on safety grounds. Debris and silt has been strewn across a wide area. Since January, there has been a fantastic response from volunteers who have now contributed over 3,000 hours of work and have largely been responsible for the re-opening of towpaths through most of the stricken sections. The Trust’s team have been focusing on the repairs and significant work required for reopening of the waterways. Funding requests have been submitted through local authorities and to date £5.5m has been secured to rebuild Bridge, a vital public link in the town of Elland where a temporary footbridge has been installed, and a second utilities bridge has been put in place to divert the numerous essential services off the old listed bridge so that it may be carefully demolished prior to the new bridge being built. By way of introduction, attached to this paper are 3 reports:

 Flood Impact Report to Defra – dated 27 January 2016 (Attachment 1)  Report on the Volunteer contribution to the Trust’s response to the Floods – dated 10 February 2016 (Attachment 2)  Update to Defra – dated 17 February 2016 (Attachment 3) At the meeting, Julie Sharman will provide a further update to bring the Council up-to-date. There will be an opportunity for Council Members to contribute their views on the response to date and to consider any other steps that the Trust should take now and in the future to protect the waterways in future.

Julie Sharman February 2016

Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust & Response – Council Paper March 2016 1 ATTACHMENT 1

Elland Bridge We have now installed a temporary footbridge at Elland Road. This has helped to reconnect the local community with the town centre, and is already heavily used.

Utilities within the original bridge will now need to be diverted before de-construction can commence. Timescale for this are causing us some concern but we continue to work with partners to resolve this. Volunteer Effort A ‘Herculean’ effort from volunteers has helped to reopen the first stretches of flood damaged towpath along the Rochdale Canal. Volunteers supported by staff from Canal & River Trust have been out in all weather and have moved over 200 tonnes of stones and gravels to fill holes and long scours that were left by flood waters along the popular towpath through Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden. So far over 120 volunteer days of work have been carried out. Clearly the community have come together to repair the damage to their canal in recognition of the public service role they play within local communities.

Similar work has taken place at Elland in the ‘Action Day’ on 23 January in which around 50 volunteers joined military trainees from Harrogate in clearing debris to make the towpath accessible, and re-building both the footpath and the adjoining wall.

Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust & Response – Council Paper March 2016 2 PREVIOUS BRIEFING 20th January 2016 Summary o The Canal & River Trust has sustained c. £15m of damage to our canals, locks and bridges severing communities and disrupting local businesses. o Following our immediate response, we have worked with local stakeholders and volunteers to make our waterways safe, assessed the damage and sought funding to cover the costs. o We have launched a public appeal - https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/donate/flood-appeal - for voluntary donations, which we anticipate making a modest, but symbolic, contribution to our overall costs – and have put out a call for volunteers to help with the clean-up. o Council has secured £5.5m from DfT to rebuild Elland Bridge - with work underway on a new pedestrian foot bridge due to open this week. o We continue to evaluate the damage and open what we can but we are still seeking to secure an additional £10m approximately, which breaks down as follows: Cumbria £2m Leeds £3m Calderdale £10m Total £15m o We believe steps should be taken to ensure the Trust is treated equally with national parks and made eligible for emergency funding.

Impact Our engineers have been working with local authorities to assess the impact of the floods on waterside people and communities. We have so far identified structural damage at 30 locations (images attached) the worst of which include: Cumbria Stainton Aqueduct & embankment collapse Calderdale Breach between Lock 17 and 16 Landslip at Cutting 17 (between Locks 15 and 16) Severe damage / partial breach due to overtopping between Lock 12 and 11 Severe river erosion at Embankment 13 - Whitely Arches (land owned by EA) Elland Bridge collapse Elland Lock - heavy scouring and damage to adjoining areas Salterhebble embankment No. 1 damaged Park Nook Lock - heavy scouring and damage to adjoining areas Towpath between Park Nook Lock and Brookfoot Lock damaged Crowther Bridge collapse (not CRT owned) Kirklees Low Lock - heavy scouring and damage to adjoining areas West Figure of Three Lock and navigation – heavy scouring Knostrop Lock nose end failure Breach at Knostrop Weir (Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme) Communities: Local people have been significantly impacted, most visibly through the closure of Elland Bridge, severing local communities, but also through the closure of approximately 20 miles of towpath, taking away vital routes for walkers and cyclists (for example commuters) who rely on these routes.

Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust & Response – Council Paper March 2016 3 o Businesses: The closure of towpaths and canal navigation has a tangible impact on those local businesses that rely on the waterway, from waterside pubs to hireboat companies such as Shire Cruises. Shire Cruises a local hire boat company have lost approx. 90% of their cruising network. This will significantly impact on their business. They are currently looking at their options to mitigate including relocating their fleet of 20 boats. This would impact on the 22 jobs. British Marina Federation estimate the impact on the economy of the floods within Calderdale to be £4,000,000. o Boat owners: The floods have severely affected many individual boat owners - some of whom live on their boats as their primary residence – with many boats damaged, sunk or stranded. We are still assessing the extent of the damage. We are estimating that approximately 23 boats have been stranded and are in the process of being recovered.

Progress so far o Elland Bridge has been a major focus of our efforts. Working with Calderdale we have secured £5.5m to undertake the repairs or complete rebuild of this vital link. A temporary footbridge is being planned to secure pedestrian access. We hope this will be in place by the weekend. o Community: there has been a great community response to the floods – as illustrated by some of the stories we have been sharing on our website – and we have put out a call for volunteers to help with the clean-up. Our initial focus is on the areas of higher population - Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden - where towpaths are most heavily used and we are mobilising our teams along with local people to clear towpaths of debris with a view to reopening where possible.

We have also: o Provided support to the emergency services, responding to requests to review and inspect sites of concern and agreeing actions; o Inspected our assets for defects, identifying schedules of work required; o Started to commission designs for some of the larger repairs; o Carried out some elements of site clearance at one landslide location in particular; o Contacted boaters with the intent to deal with any specific local issues for them; o Carried out a hydrographic depth survey for the Rochdale Canal to assess the amount of dredging required.

Funding The floods have left a heavy financial burden on the Trust which will inevitably divert funds from our other planned works. We have explored a number of third party funding options which include o Local Authorities - Our funding team have made funding submissions to relevant councils and we are awaiting the outcomes. o Bellwin Fund – We understand from DCLG that the Trust is not eligible to apply for this funding directly, as it is intended for local authorities, emergency services and national park authorities. DCLG advised that we work in partnership with local authorities to submit bids. Through established relationships we have been able to work with Calderdale, Cumbria and Leeds to develop requests for funding based on estimates of damages. o Heritage Lottery Fund / Historic England – We have contacted local offices but there is no funding available for emergency works. Once emergency works are completed, we will apply for grants through the usual process for particular historic structures (i.e. Stainton Aqueduct in Cumbria), however there is no guarantee of these applications succeeding.

Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust & Response – Council Paper March 2016 4 o DfT – The £40m of funding announced for roads and bridges in Lancashire and Cumbria does not cover the areas where we have experienced damaged assets apart from Elland Bridge o EU Emergency Fund (Solidarity Fund) – The Trust is ineligible for this source of funding as it can only be accessed by member state governments directly, however, should the UK Government apply for this fund we would be interested in seeing if we could access this. o Other Funding - We continue to assess the availability of other funds e.g. The Prince of Wales Countryside Fund. However the available funds are small in comparison to the damage suffered. o Fundraising Campaign – We have launched a public appeal - https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/donate/flood-appeal - for voluntary donations, which we anticipate making a modest, but symbolic, contribution to our overall costs. Funding issues 1. The Canal & River Trust makes a major contribution to the UK’s land drainage and flood resilience systems and yet we are ineligible for funds – especially Bellwin – established to support repairs in the event of emergencies. We believe steps should be taken to enable the Trust to access this funding in the future and that we should be treated in the same way as a National Park and other public services. 2. We believe Government should establish a new fund to enable significant heritage structures to be repaired after these kinds of events. 3. We believe the Government should investigate the EU solidarity fund.

Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust & Response – Council Paper March 2016 5 Appendix 1 Photographs

Rochdale Canal

Breach between Lock 16 and 17

Landslip between Locks 15 & 16

West Yorkshire

Elland Bridge

Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust & Response – Council Paper March 2016 6 Figure of Three Locks

Kirklees Low lock Park Nook Lock

Crowther Bridge Knostrop island bull nose failure

Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust & Response – Council Paper March 2016 7 Appendix 2

A ‘Herculean’ effort from volunteers has helped to reopen the first stretches of flood damaged towpath along the Rochdale Canal.

Volunteers supported by staff from Canal & River Trust have been out in all weather and have moved over 200 tonnes of stone and other materials – the weight of 15 double decker buses – to fill holes and long scours that were left by flood waters along the popular towpath through Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden.

In the past week a mile and a half stretch of towpath between locks 7 and 10 has been reopened by the Canal & River Trust with more to come. It is expected that by the end of the week local residents will once again be able to use the towpath all the way from Sowerby Bridge to Hebden Bridge.

Jon Stopp, a lead volunteer with the Canal & River Trust, comments: “The response from the community has been fantastic. The canal is such an important part of life around here and getting the towpaths back open is really important.

“So far volunteers on the Rochdale Canal have contributed over 120 days-worth of hard work since the floods wreaked havoc. Their work fixing and repairing towpaths and clearing thick mud has been Herculean. And it’s not just been residents. We’ve even had volunteers from the local branch of Lloyds and Halifax out helping.”

The work on the Rochdale Canal continues. In the next week, the Trust hopes that work in and around Todmorden will mean that the canal towpath is once again open from there all the way to Manchester. There is also considerable work to do on the canal between Hebden Bridge and Todmorden where the flooded River Calder washed away an entire stretch of canal bank and where hundreds of tonnes of soil, trees and debris slid down the side of the hill and blocked the canal.

Jon continues: “The work on the canal is ongoing and we’ve a working party this Saturday in Sowerby Bridge. All volunteers are welcome: meet at the Wharf at 10.30am. Just bring sturdy footwear, warm clothes and be prepared to get stuck in.

“We want to get the canal and towpath back to its best as quickly as possible so that it can once more be enjoyed by the local community. That’s why we’re asking local people to help where they can and this volunteering day will be a great opportunity for us all to pull together and get things back to normal. We’ve already had lots of fantastic support and we’re very grateful for any help that people can give.”

The Trust has also launched an appeal to help rebuild canals in the heart of flood-hit communities such as those along the Rochdale Canal and Calder & Hebble Navigation.

Flooding Update – Impact on the Trust & Response – Council Paper March 2016 8 David Baldacchino, waterway manager for the Canal & River Trust said; “The Boxing Day floods were the worst we’ve ever seen on our waterways and have caused major damage on both the Rochdale Canal and Calder & Hebble Navigation. The waters destroyed homes and businesses, damaged historic canals and washed away much loved stretches of towpath.

“The Trust’s appeal will help rebuild and reopen historic waterways helping waterside communities, where life has been turned upside down, to recover.”

To find out more about the appeal please visit canalrivertrust.org.uk/donate/flood-appeal/.

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ATTACHMENT 2 BOXING DAY FLOODS 2015 - VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTION TO THE TRUST'S RESPONSE

10 February 2016 Update

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OVERVIEW

1. The flooding across the north of England over Christmas 2015 affected Canal & Rover Trust waterways across the region, most notably along the Rochdale Canal, and Calder & Hebble Navigation, and on the Aire Navigation in Leeds. 2. In total it is estimated that repairs will cost circa £15m to repair. Large scale infrastructure damage has occurred to bridges and embankments, with landslides and breaches, and throughout the waterways extensive damage has occurred to towpaths where they have been scoured and washed away, necessitating their closure on safety grounds. Debris and silt has been strewn across a wide area. 3. From the outset volunteers have been an intrinsic part of Canal & River Trust’s response. Initially contributing to ‘making safe’ activities – erecting barriers and signs, their involvement then extended to focus on the ‘clean-up’ of towpath sections and surrounding land. Volunteers have also been embedded with our maintenance staff teams to provide additional capacity and are now involved in the repair work, also contributing to planning and support activities. Volunteers have been a key part of our contact with local communities and supporting the launch of our appeal through activity on social media and our website.

4. Looking ahead this work will continue, and as the immediate work is completed, the focus will turn to focus more on the larger repair works and ongoing advocacy work for the Trust as more sections of towpath are reopened. 5. Volunteering activity has been arranged in a variety of ways including small experienced and hence largely self- sufficient regular volunteer groups working on repairs, to one-off ‘open’ events aimed at attracting large numbers of people regardless of experience to specific locations where they can help undertake a range of tasks, unskilled and skilled, regardless of age; the recent event at Elland had all ages from 8 to 80 involved! 6. Volunteers have come to us from the local community and from a wide area beyond. Prior to the flood we have been working to involve local communities and have ‘adoption’ schemes in place from which volunteers have come forward. Other local community groups (for example an allotment group affected by the flood) have taken the initiative to assist with canal repairs for the betterment of their area. Locally through the local authority hubs, volunteers expressing interest have been directed towards us as part of the wider clean-up, we have been approached by local businesses too seeking to contribute on a team basis; recent involvement includes Lloyds Bank, Halifax Building Society and Sanderson Weatherall; the construction firm Mace (who do corporate volunteering with the Trust in other parts of the country) have offered to help. We are continuing to recruit volunteers through our website and appeal – using specific events as a lever to attract more people.

7. More experienced volunteers are coming from across the north – for example, volunteers from the Trust’s local group in Wigan joined the work to re-build a dry stone wall at Park Nook lock in Elland, to use the training they have had on their own patch. 8. For the future we are establishing specific volunteer task days, where people will know that at a certain time and location they can attend and help out.

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9. In total it is estimated that volunteers have given over 2,800 hours of effort to our repairs, and growing. Using standard factors (approved by the HLF) this would be valued as a labour ‘cost’ equivalent to over £40,000, though the benefit is far wider than the immediate work done. 10. The volunteering effort has allowed us to make a quick start to the repair activities that are required whilst our professional teams and contractors have been able to focus on scoping and planning for the more complex long term works. Sections of towpath are already re-opened due to this amazing effort – with 8km of continuous towpath now re-opened on the Rochdale Canal through Hebden Bridge with more expected shortly, including locally important sections in Todmorden. This has been a highly visible activity, essential for the Trust and the local communities to be able to see quick progress in restoring normality, and sending out the message that the canal – and the valley – is back open for visitors.

11. The following appendices itemise some of the work done and show photographs of the volunteers at work and the difference they have made.

Canal & River Trust 10 February 2016

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SUMMARY OF VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITIES TO 10TH FEBRUARY 2016 Location Outline of Activity Estimated Volunteer Hours Rochdale Canal Callis Mill Boaters at Callas Mill, clear mud and put down stone 70 Todmorden Lock Clear mud from towpath; re-fix setts by Lock 18 and in horse 290 18 & Towpath tunnel; fill lock hole with material; re-surface 50m towpath. Work with Yorkshire Banking Group & Incredible Edibles Lock 8 to 11 General towpath tidy up and improvement 100 and Bridge 15 Lock 8 Repair various scours around lock and approaches to lock 400 over 30 m; replace setts on steps loosened by water; re-fix lock step moved by water; shore up base with dry stone wall type base of towpath edge; move fence dislodged by water; fill in 50 m towpath holes including protecting fibre optic cable; rebuild towpath at access point; rebuild low wall/fix copings over 15 metres displaced by flood water; re- fix concrete base around manhole cover in towpath. Wall rebuild now complete. Build run off channels Various sites Volunteers working embedded with Trust maintenance teams 70 – logistical support Sowerby Bridge Repairs to towpath holes and tidy up 210 Initial making safe Erection of barrier fencing, review of sites during initial 70 activities emergency and reporting Across the canal Organise events, attend local community flood 200 meetings, volunteer hubs in Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden; in Halifax/Calderdale; Boating customer welfare; support for communication and ‘marketing’ General clean ups Lock 7, 14, 25, 26 30 Calder & Hebble Across the Valuable survey concentrating on lock operations, 160 navigation checking paddles and mechanism, to enable decisions on extent of work required to open for navigation; also to identify any additional defects (undertaken by Safe Anchor Trust, Calder Navigation Society and Shire Cruises who provided boats to undertake the surveys) Cromwell Lock, Immediate response to clear the towpath and debris from 80 Brookfoot the side of the canal working with our existing adoption group and lead volunteer. Brookfoot group supported by Huddersfield Towpath Taskforce Brookfoot Brookfoot adoption group have cleared litter, vegetation, 100 and mud and made the towpath accessible.

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Salterhebble Locks Volunteer lock keepers removed mud, litter, cleared towpath 70 and locks of debris, removed vegetation, reported defects and have acted as a communication point with customers. Elland, Park Nook Public open day to clear vegetation, rebuild dry stone walls, 850 and Cromwell create temporary paths, clear litter and debris, protect scoured Locks areas and land around buildings, remove damaged vegetation, clear the towpath of mud. 40 trainee soldiers from Harrogate involved Aire & Calder Ferrybridge Lock Wakefield College students cleared up litter, cut back 80 vegetation, cut back vegetation and reinstated the dead hedge. Leeds Lock Ward Hadaway solicitors and Sanderson Weatherall property 100 specialists have been debris, replanting trees and clearing up the Aire & Calder in central leeds. Total volunteer contribution so far 2,880

KEY PARTNERS The response to the floods from communities and stakeholders alike has been exceptional. Key partners involved, but not limited to, include:

 Junior Soldiers from Harrogate barracks  Calder Navigation Society  Shire Cruises  Calderdale Council  Wakefield College  Woodcraft Folk  Safe Anchor Trust  Lloyds Bank  Halifax Bank  Todmorden Forum  Incredible Edible  Calder Futures  Todmorden Town Council  Whittaker Brothers  Local Canal & River Trust Waterway Partnerships  Ward Hadaway  Sanderson Weatherall, Yorkshire Building Society

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Appendix - Volunteers in Action

Staff from Lloyds Bank helping out with Towpath Clean Up, Hebden Bridge – Rochdale Canal scraping mud from the surface

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Volunteer Work Parties Repairing Towpath Washouts – Lock 8, Rochdale Canal

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Volunteers Completing Temporary Surfacing Repairs in Todmorden

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Local allotment group help to limit water escaping from the Rochdale Canal where it is breached by placing sandbags

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Cromwell Lock Before

Flood debris left the fence knocked over a picnic bench deposited and a lot of rubbish.

Cromwell Lock After

Post clean 8th January within a week of the flood happening this debris had been cleared thanks to the committeed team of volunteers at Brookfoot.

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Thick mud left by the flooding

Cromwell Lock During

Junior soldiers (16-18) as part of their Duke of Edinburgh’s help remove mud from the towpath using a water pump, buckets and spades supported by a Trust work boat and community adoption on the 23 rd January

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Junior soldiers looking muddy following the path clearance on the 23rd January

Park Nook Lock Before

Junior soldiers working alongside Trust staff to make the site safer, create an alternative path and reinstate a drystone wall. There is still al ot more to be done at Park Nook

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Park Nook Lock During

Volunteers pitching in to fix the dry stone wall knocked down by the floods.

Navigation survey

Calder Navigation Society testing the paddles as part of the navigation survey.

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Volunteers supporting our flood appeal Promoting their activities on social media

...and giving stories for the website

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PRESS RELEASE

9 February 2016

VOLUNTEERS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE PENNINES JOIN FORCES IN FLOOD RECOVERY

Volunteers from both sides of the Pennines have joined forces to help clear part of Leeds’ flood- hit waterways.

Staff from Sanderson Weatherall, property agents in Manchester, and Ward Hadaway solicitors in Leeds teamed up on Friday 5 February to help the Canal & River Trust clean up a section of the Aire & Calder Navigation.

The Boxing Day floods were some of the worst ever seen on the region’s historic waterways and caused damage to bridges, embankments and canal walls. The floodwaters also left behind an array of rubbish and other debris as well as a coating of mud and silt.

The volunteers helped to clear the rubbish that had been left along the Aire & Calder Navigation near Fearns Wharf. They also replanted a mature holly tree that was washed away and reinstated a riverside garden that was destroyed by the force of the floodwaters.

Both firms taking part carry out work for the Canal & River Trust, the charity that cares for 2,000 miles of historic waterways in England & Wales, and offered their support in helping the area’s waterways recover from the floods.

Becca Dent, volunteer development coordinator for the Canal & River Trust said; “The Boxing Day floods were some of the worst we’ve ever seen on our waterways and they’ve left a trail of damage and disruption in their wake.

“Here in Leeds you can still see rubbish and other debris dumped on the towpath and clinging to fences and it means that a visit to the riverside isn’t as enjoyable as it should be. The volunteers did a great job in helping to get things back to looking their best and ensuring that local people have an attractive and enjoyable place to escape to.

“Everyone knows that there’s a bit of rivalry between Leeds and Manchester and it’s really nice to see people wanting to help out no matter where they come from.”

Kevin Weston, Partner in the Property team at Ward Hadaway in Leeds, said: "We've seen at first hand the effects that the December floods have had on businesses and communities in Yorkshire and we wanted to be able to do our bit to help with the clean-up operation.

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"This was a great opportunity to do that and to demonstrate that lawyers don't mind mucking in and getting their hands dirty for a good cause!"

Simon Heather, a Partner in Sanderson Weatherall’s Manchester office said; “When we heard of the damage caused by the recent flooding in Leeds, we felt compelled to respond to the call for volunteers and offer our help. This is the second time we have undertaken this type of work with the Trust – having previously crewed the Trust’s litter boat in Manchester in 2013. We really enjoyed getting stuck in.”

The Trust has also launched an appeal to help rebuild canals in the heart of flood-hit communities such as those along the Calder & Hebble Navigation. The Boxing Day floods destroyed homes and businesses, damaged historic canals and washed away much loved stretches of towpath. The Trust’s appeal will help rebuild and reopen historic waterways helping waterside communities, where life has been turned upside down, to recover. To find out more about the appeal please visit canalrivertrust.org.uk/donate/flood-appeal/.

ENDS

For further media requests please contact: Stephen Hardy, communications manager, Canal & River Trust T: 01636 675703 M: 07920 077190 E: [email protected]

Notes to editors: The Canal & River Trust is the guardian of 2,000 miles of historic waterways across England and Wales, caring for the nation’s third largest collection of listed structures, as well as museums, archives, and hundreds of important wildlife sites. We believe that living waterways transform places and enrich lives and our role is to make sure there is always a place on your doorstep where you can escape the pressures of everyday life, stretch your legs and simply feel closer to nature. www.canalrivertrust.org.uk / @CanalRiverTrust / @crtcomms

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ATTACHMENT 3

Elland Bridge The remaining stranded boats were lifted back in to the water and the temporary utilities bridge lifted in to place last Sunday (14/2/16).

The bridge will be ready for use by the end of this week (20/2/16) and the utility companies will start diverting services out of Elland Bridge and onto it. Listed Building consent for the bridge’s demolition has been submitted to Calderdale Council (for conservation officer approval). Following completion of this, expected towards the end of March, controlled demolition will be able to commence. Volunteer Effort  Over 3,000 volunteer hours have now been delivered, with a further 200 hours undertaken this week  Efforts have concentrated on the area between Locks 10 and 12 in Hebden Bridge  The target to reopen the canal towpath to Lock 12 by the middle of February has been achieved; the towpath has now been re-opened fully from Sowerby Bridge to Hebden  Weeklyl groups are developing, with contributions in Littleborough and Todmorden

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Volunteers helping towpath repairs at Lock 10

Other Works on Rochdale Canal  Repairs details for the towpath adjacent to lock 12 (photo below) have now been finalised and will be issued to our Framework Contractor for pricing later this week

 Lock 13 The scoured bank at lock 13 has been refilled and is due for completion next week.

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Dredging

 We have identified 5km of navigation that requires dredging before the canal can be re-opened between Sowerby Bridge and Lock 15.  Works scheduled to commence Monday 22nd February

Embankment 19 Breach

 Volunteers have temporarily blocked the breach with sandbags to divert water from the adjacent allotments.  Designs are now complete and we expect to be issuing the work package to our Framework Contractor for pricing next week. Cutting 17 Slip

 A clear channel has been formed through the slip to maintain flows down the canal.  Ground Investigations to the slope will be underway as soon as the agreements with the land owner have been finalised.

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Bottomley Culvert

 Canal bed excavated to expose twin culvert following reports of water leaking into canal  Culvert lid had failed, causing water to puncture through the clay liner  Existing concrete repair removed, existing stones removed and area cleared  New concrete lid to be poured this week

Fundraising appeal The Trust’s fundraising appeal has reached a total of c.£65,000 - including an allocation of £20,000 from the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Canal & River Trust 17 February 2016

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