Gala day heralds new dawn for Mon & Brec Canal

Now, after an investment of £8.5 million, this tourism magnet is open again for the new visitor season and ready to continue playing a major role in the regional and local economy.

This picturesque waterway already contributes £17 million annually in visitor spend to the regional economy – and there are pointers to the canal’s continued growth in this field. The visitor economy in Wales is growing and cost conscious families are this year looking to UK based holidays, while the waterway links areas of social need with sources of work opportunity and joins rural communities with urban centres.

An independent economic study of the Wales canal network has shown that an annual investment of just £3 million generates £33 million visitor spend along the canal corridors and supports over 800 full-time equivalent jobs. ‘Waterways in Wales: Economic Costs and Benefits of the Welsh Canal Network’ highlights:

Tourism development: regeneration will create a corridor of tourist destinations along the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. As a destination, the canal already attracts three million visits per year, with 70,000 days spent by boaters on the canal.

Economic development: research indicates £17 million is spent each year in the economy by tourists and visitors, supporting almost 400 full time jobs.

Community: in addition to deriving quality of life and health benefits from a vibrant waterway, canalside communities can share in the work and wealth created by investment, which regenerates the canal.

Conservation and heritage: Improved access to listed structures and heritage information will provide a valuable resource for communities and visitors alike.

Bringing this unique waterway back into full use for this season involved some hard choices regarding diversion of resources from other important UK projects – but according to British Waterways Wales & Border Counties General Manager Julie Sharman, the justification was clear.

“The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal is a fundamental part of the regional economy so there was an unequivocal imperative to bring it back into full use at the earliest opportunity,” said Ms Sharman.

From the outset, the will to deliver the project was clear. Safely de-watering the affected 16 mile length took over a month and involved abstracting 110 million gallons of water. At the same time, around 150 stranded privately owned craft were craned out or moved to unaffected parts of the canal. 50,000 fish were also rescued and moved to safe habitats along the waterway.

Work was split into designated areas along the 16 mile stretch, while agreements with local landowners helped ensure project infrastructure could be built up quickly and safely.

Project Manager Mark Durham said the project required the implementation of established repair techniques plus innovative design and technology to complete the project within a tight time scale and to budget.

“Lengths of towpath banks have been repaired with traditional puddle clay using an innovative technique to further protect the bank and provide a more robust solution. The clay is protected by a permeable sheet, or geomembrane,” he said.

“This prevents the clay being washed away. A layer of stone is held in place by a cellular geotextile, a series of pockets which enable this material to be retained on steep gradients.

“The result is a watertight seal that is protected from boat wash and impacts, lasting signicificantly longer than traditional repair techniques. We have also installed a monitoring system on some sections, enabling leakage to be identified even when it cannot be seen on the embankment,” said Mr Durham.

Local contractors were also used for most of the work, employing over 130 people, while neighbouring firms supplied plant hire, concrete and other materials.

Mother Nature has also begun to restore the waterway’s natural appearance. The growth of protective vegetation means species are re-colonising the affected 16 mile length. Engineers have lent a hand to the process by reinstating valuable soft banking – home to much of the waterway’s varied animals and plant life.

But while the injection of £8.5m by British Waterways has underpinned the immediate future of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, an estimated £7.5m additional funding must now be externally sourced to ensure the canal is there for future generations to enjoy.

With the waterway’s immediate future secured the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal Strategic Action Group is working to identify and develop new funding that guarantee the future of this vital economic and leisure asset by:

• securing and protecting the natural, built and cultural heritage of the canal
• developing a strategy for progressing and maintaining regeneration of the canal corridor
• promoting the leisure and tourism potential of the waterway.