On 24/06/2010 16:52, Bruce Napier wrote: > I've just said this in the blog: > > >> For my money, we'd be better to mothball some of the less popular >> and badly maintained routes until the wheel turns again, rather than >> struggle to keep the whole system going. That would lead to an >> acrimonious debate about which canals to close down for a bit, of >> course, but I'm thinking of the ones which spend a lot of their time >> stopped anyway, so K&A, Huddersfield Narrow, Rochdale above >> Manchester... >> >> I await the howls of rage!
Not so much of howls of rage, but the HNC and Rochdale were restored to navigable condition, including the construction of some new lengths of canal, with large sums of lottery money. I'm sure I've read somewhere that a condition of the funding was that they be maintained in a navigable condition for some minimum period - 25 years? 50 years? So closing them would require BW to give the money back. Cheaper to keep them open! David
