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Uttoxeter Canal Saved After Planning Application Refused

Volunteers from two charities, the local Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust, and the country-wide Inland Waterways Association, are celebrating after SMDC’s Planning Applications Committee turned down proposals for a development which would have blocked restoration of the Uttoxeter Canal in the Churnet Valley.

The first lock and basin of the canal at Froghall were restored in 2005 in a partnership project between volunteers, British Waterways and local authorities, backed by European funding.   The site proposed for development is immediately adjacent to this popular location, which is always busy with visiting boaters, tourists and walkers.  With no route allowed in the plans for future restoration of the canal, the development would have prevented the rest of the Uttoxeter Canal from ever joining on to the navigable Caldon Canal and 2700 miles of inland waterways.