£5.3million award to restore half-mile stretch of Chesterfield Canal at Staveley

The award to the Chesterfield Canal Trust from the Staveley Towns Fund will enable the waterway to be extended by half a mile from Hartington Habour onto the Staveley Puddlebank.

Two miles of towpath will run all the way to Renishaw and there will be a new lock and two new bridges.

Peter Hardy, chairman of the trust, said: “Our scheme will bring enormous benefits to the residents of Staveley and surrounding areas with the extension of the canal from Staveley Waterside almost to the river Doe Lea. Together with the other projects awarded money from the Towns Fund, it will enhance the environment, health and wellbeing of all who live in the area.

“It will be the catalyst for the Chesterfield Canal Trust to complete the restoration of the canal.”

Mr Hardy added: “We are indebted to the local company Suon Ltd. which has donated the clay to be used in this project; without this generosity the scheme would not have been possible.”

The first actual construction work will be the new Trans-Pennine Trail bridge, just east of the existing Eckington Road Bridge. This is scheduled to start early next year.

The main earth moving to rebuild the Puddlebank will not start until 2024.

The trust is further hoping to complete the canal restoration through to Renishaw, including the Doe Lea aqueduct which is planned to be 37 metres long and 10 metres above river level.

A volunteer work party has already begun the trust’s Rewatering Renishaw project to bring another half mile of canal back to life. The linking of the two projects will mean an extra two-and-a-half miles of canal.

Over the next few months, the trust’s project team will make detailed preparations, prepare tender documents, appoint staff and award contracts.

Trust volunteers are hoping to have the canal fully restored in time for its 250th anniversary in 2027.

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