A £395,000 plan to buy a key stretch of the Shrewsbury & Newport Canal in Telford - opening the doors to a huge tourism spin-off - is to go ahead after councillors gave it their overwhelming approval.
All but four members of Telford & Wrekin Council last week agreed the funding to buy the stretch of waterway, warehouse buildings and the canal basin at Wappenshall near Leegomery
The backing of the full council will now see a lease or licence agreement struck with Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust which will work with the authority to redevelop the site, bring it back into use and create a new magnet for tourism.
The move is a huge boost to the trust’s £86 million vision of restoring the canal and linking it to the national network.
Many other councils along the route are already on board with the scheme and Telford’s vote was seen as a crucial decision.
Councillor Eric Carter, cabinet member for regeneration, described the chance to fund the revamp as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which he said the authority had to grasp.
He told last night’s meeting: “If the buildings are taken over by another body or turned into holiday flats or something they will be lost forever.”
Council leader Councillor Andrew Eade added his support to the plan, claiming that the potential for economic spin-offs from the redevelopment was huge.
He said: “We are at a watershed on this issue because if we don’t grasp the current opportunity the canal will never open at Wappenshall and then go onto Newport, let alone go on from Newport to join the national canal network just seven miles away.”
Three of the four members who did not vote in favour of the funding package abstained. The lone voice of opposition was Donnington Labour member Councillor Liz Clare.
Councillor Clare told fellow members: “It can bring in tourism, it can bring a lot of things but I doubt if anyone sitting here will see the the opening of these canals come to fruition.
“I find it a wonderful scheme but not one to be funded by this council at the expense of othere schemes.”
Fellow Labour member Councillor Alan McKenzie voiced fears that the redevelopment could “decimate” a Site of Special Scientific Interest at Wappenshall but his concerns were overcome and he voted in favour of the funding when he heard that the trust had taken the issue on board and was looking at ways to ensure the site was kept intact.
