Chesterfield Canal Trust thanks public for support after HS2 opposed major plans

A planning application for the restoration of the remainder of the waterway which falls within Chesterfield borough – a 1.6-mile section from Staveley to the edge of Renishaw – has been submitted by the Chesterfield Canal Trust (CCT).

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As the Derbyshire Times reported last week, controversial high-speed rail company HS2 has written to Chesterfield Borough Council to oppose CCT’s planning application – saying the two projects are ‘currently incompatible’.

On our Facebook page, many people sided with CCT on this issue.

John Crofts said: “I'd rather see the canal restored than that thing (HS2) being built.”

David Hewitt said: “Tell them (HS2) to do one. The canal was here first.”

Wayne Lee added: “The canal is worth restoring, HS2 is worth scrapping.”

A spokesperson for CCT said: “The trust is delighted that so many members of the public have expressed their support for the restoration of the Chesterfield Canal both to the Derbyshire Times and to the borough council’s planning department.

“We have been in touch with HS2 and expect to have a meeting in the near future.”

The spokesperson added that staff working for Lee Rowley, North East Derbyshire’s Conservative MP, had been in touch ‘offering support in negotiating with HS2’.

Chesterfield’s Labour MP Toby Perkins has also raised the issue in the House of Commons, calling for a debate on how ‘these two vitally important projects don’t interfere with each other but actually work constructively together’.

HS2 believes the water level in the canal would be too high to enable a bridge to be built to allow access to a planned maintenance depot on the old Staveley Works site.

A spokesperson for HS2 said it would ‘continue to work closely with the trust and local planning authorities to identify a mutually agreeable solution’.

Construction work on HS2 – which is set to link London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds – officially began on Friday.

Those involved in the £56billion project say it is expected to create 22,000 jobs in the next few years.

MORE: Plans unveiled to restore vital stretch of historic Chesterfield Canal after coronavirus delays

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