New canal brings prosperity to Liverpool
25 March 2009
A brand new stretch of canal is today (Wednesday 25 March) being officially unveiled in Liverpool – two and a half centuries after the Duke of Bridgewater kick-started the ‘canal mania’ that would fuel the world’s first industrial revolution.
Re-establishing an historic connection between the city’s currently underused South Docks and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, the £22million project opens up the city’s waterfront to the previously untapped leisure and tourism industry already thriving on Britain’s 2,200-mile UK canal system – echoing a time past when waterways brought economic prosperity to Liverpool.
For the first time in over a century the 30,000 boats on Britain’s inland waterways will be able to navigate the current 127 mile Leeds & Liverpool Canal straight into the heart of Liverpool. Cutting a course through the World Heritage Site in front of the famous Three Graces – the Liver, Cunard and Port of Liverpool buildings – the new 1½ mile Canal Link will generate 200,000 extra visitors annually to Liverpool’s docks with an additional tourism spend of £1.9million.
Robin Evans, chief executive of British Waterways said: “The construction of the Liverpool Canal Link is a further boost for the renaissance of the nation’s inland waterways. Given that Britain’s canal system was pretty much viewed as a lost cause, and was actively being filled in and maligned, during the 20th century, it’s remarkable the way that the waterways have been reinvented for the 21st century and that we’re still building canals today.
“Many decades after most canals finished serving their original purpose to move goods and raw materials, the waterways are still creating jobs and facilitating trade. The Liverpool Canal Link follows the restoration and building of an additional 220 miles of canals around the country 10 years ago, and is one of a new tranche of projects that are seeing waterways restored in places like London, Manchester, Falkirk and Droitwich.”
Councillor Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool City Council said: "The opening of the canal link is a significant day in the recent history of Liverpool. We want the new-look Pier Head to be a must-see destination for visitors to the city and the new canal will add life and vibrancy to our waterfront.
“Bringing life back to the waterfront has been one of our main priorities in regenerating the city and the new canal link has been a vital element in that. For the first time in over a century, narrowboats will sail once again into the heart of this famous city and they will get a great reception. This project has been assisted with the co-ordination by Liverpool Vision and supported by a number of agencies, showing what can be achieved when we work together.”
The previous connection from the South Docks to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was abandoned in the early 20th century when the Three Graces were built over a dock following the decline in the carriage of waterways freight. From today, boaters will once again be able to book a trip on the new canal link with the first regular passages scheduled for 20 April 2009.
Unlike today’s leisure and tourism-led benefits of the nation’s waterways, the previous canal connection with Liverpool’s docks facilitated a range of merchandise to be transported, including grain taken by horse drawn barges to East Lancashire’s flour mills and wool to Yorkshire. Coal transported to Merseyside from Wigan was pivotal in the rapid expansion of Liverpool’s industry in the late 18th century, whilst textile machinery from Lancashire and Yorkshire started its journey on the canal before export overseas.
The £22million cost of the Liverpool Canal Link has included funding from British Waterways, European Regional Development Fund, North West Development Agency, Homes and Communities Agency, and Peel Holdings. The Liverpool Canal Link project will support the continuing regeneration aims of partner organisations for the Liverpool Waterfront and the wider Merseyside area.
Ends
For media enquiries contact:
Helen Hall, British Waterways, T. 01942 405 788, M. 07717 760284,
Helen.hall@britishwaterways.co.uk
Jonathan Ludford, British Waterways, T. 020 7985 7275, M. 07747 897783,
jonathan.ludford@britishwaterways.co.uk
Notes to editors:
British Waterways is a not-for-dividend public corporation which cares for a 2,200-mile network of canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs across Britain. It is accountable to the Department of the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs in England and Wales and to the Scottish Government in Scotland and works with a broad range of public, private and voluntary sector partners to protect and find new uses for the nation's historic waterways.
At 127 miles long the Leeds & Liverpool Canal is the longest single canal in the UK – a testament to the ingenuity and perseverance of those who laboured on its construction in the 1790s.