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Macclesfield Canal closed in Bollington


Bugsworth Tippler

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Coal boat Alton has posted some pictures today showing that investigation work into the leak is underway. Thanks Brian.

 

https://www.facebook.com/Coalboat.Alton/?fref=ts

Indeed, thanks Brian whose has clearly had a busy weekend doing road deliveries as well as taking videos of the work site.

 

The latest on this "not quite a breach, but very nearly was" is that they are saying 2-6 weeks

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2-6 weeks is quite a broad time span. Presumably they haven't got to the bottom of the problem yet.

 

I know several people whose holiday plans for the coming week(s) have been severely disrupted by this problem and I'm sure that there are hundreds more (including those whose hire boat had to be craned from the water when it got trapped on the upper level).

 

Regular inspection and maintenance is essential if events such as these are not to become more frequent. If C&RT had been monitoring this leak it begs the question - just what did this monitoring entail and for how long had it been taking place? And why wasn't something done about the leak sooner?

 

Pre-emptive action can often be the cheapest way of dealing with potential problems. I'm sure most boaters could point out to anyone at C&RT who was interested locks which are in grave danger of failing unless they get a bit of TLC (and waterproof grout).

 

Best wishes to the men on the ground doing the work. Less good wishes to those in head office who, when contacted about the stoppage in Bollington, thought Bollington was on the Trent & Mersey.

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Update on 31/05/2016:

Our contractors have worked through the weekend to construct a road into the bottom of the canal so that we can get excavators and other equipment into the canal bed. There is a lot of silt here which is very soft and a special road has had to be built using “bog mats” which has taken some time. This allowed us to inspect the obvious problem areas on Sunday and start repairs on Monday.

During this we have found other parts of the canal bed that will need repairs too. Over the next week or so we expect to continue a process of investigation and repairs, extending the road in the canal bed as we go along.

This is a slow process with difficult access in a relatively confined location. The track to the site is very narrow with limited space at the end – we’re only able to use a dumper to bring material into the site from the road. We can see it is very unlikely that the work will be finished this week and that we will need to work through next weekend and into the week of 6th June to finish the repairs. We expect to provide a further update on Friday morning.

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Update on 31/05/2016:

Our contractors have worked through the weekend to construct a road into the bottom of the canal so that we can get excavators and other equipment into the canal bed. There is a lot of silt here which is very soft and a special road has had to be built using “bog mats” which has taken some time. This allowed us to inspect the obvious problem areas on Sunday and start repairs on Monday.

During this we have found other parts of the canal bed that will need repairs too. Over the next week or so we expect to continue a process of investigation and repairs, extending the road in the canal bed as we go along.

This is a slow process with difficult access in a relatively confined location. The track to the site is very narrow with limited space at the end – we’re only able to use a dumper to bring material into the site from the road. We can see it is very unlikely that the work will be finished this week and that we will need to work through next weekend and into the week of 6th June to finish the repairs. We expect to provide a further update on Friday morning.

 

Tipler, it this your report of copied from somewhere?

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Latest Stoppage Notice from C&RT
From Date: 20th May 2016 at 08:00
To Date: until further notice
Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Structure failure
Is Towpath Closed? Yes
Notice updates: 03/06/2016 @ 15:29

Progress has been good since the last update thanks to our contractors’ efforts and making the most of good weather. Works on site continue to generate a huge amount of interest from customers and neighbours and we try to keep our message on site positive, realistic and consistent with the updates we are trying to share with you as frequently as possible.

 

So far we’ve cleared approximately 100te of silt from the damaged section of the canal and excavated up to a metre of the existing puddle clay in preparation for new clay. We are now in the second day of placing puddle clay and will be working over the weekend to help us finish these bed repairs early next week. All of this has been done under close supervision by our in-house engineers.

 

There is still lots to do before we can finally remove fences and stop planks, and open the canal and towpath for business as usual. There are other more minor repairs to complete, stilling tests required to confirm the repairs are good, and we still need to remove the temporary road in the bed of the canal and the ramp over the towpath, along with fabric dams and pumps before the canal can be opened. Nevertheless we are confident that the canal will be open to navigation for the weekend 11/12 June. Our contractors will be working this weekend (4/5 June) and we will update this notice giving more clarity about timescales by Monday evening.

 

We appreciate this has been disruptive to our customers and our site team are grateful for your patience.

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For the benefit of those not on farcebook, can we have the pictures posted directly on this forum please.

 

Whilst I would probably concur with anyone's dislike and suspicions regarding Facebook it appears to be a necessary evil for many of us, due to the ease of use. The fact that so many people communicate using it rather leaves those that don't 'out of the loop'.

 

I don't think it would be right to 'pinch' the pictures to post them on this forum without the permission of the photographer, though linking to a Facebook page is an accepted convention.

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Whilst I would probably concur with anyone's dislike and suspicions regarding Facebook it appears to be a necessary evil for many of us, due to the ease of use. The fact that so many people communicate using it rather leaves those that don't 'out of the loop'.

 

I don't think it would be right to 'pinch' the pictures to post them on this forum without the permission of the photographer, though linking to a Facebook page is an accepted convention.

I've sent Brian a pm asking if he would put his pictures up on this forum.

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From CRT:

 

Update on 06/06/2016:

 

Our contractors have worked through the weekend and the good news is that the repairs to the damaged bed near to Clarence Mill have been completed. While this is great news there is still over 100Te of silt to clear from the bed, and some minor bed and washwall repairs which we will complete while still on site.

 

Our plan for the rest of this week looks like this. We will be working to remove silt and carry out minor repairs on Tuesday. We aim to start refilling carefully over Wednesday and Thursday, keeping a close eye on the repaired areas and the locations of previous leaks into adjoining land. Once we're happy that the repairs are holding well, we'll remove the pumps and the temporary fabric dam protecting the working area. This is planned for Friday 10 June. As per our previous update, the canal will be open for Saturday.

 

Thanks again for your patience and your continued interest. Should there be any opportunity to bring the opening date forward we will let you know. In any case we'll provide a further update on Wednesday 8 June to let you how things are going.

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Sorry I've only just seen your pm. I'll try & upload some photos but I don't always succeed on here.

 

Cheers, Brian

Thanks for putting the pictures up. It looks like a pretty big leak to me.

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Latest from CRT:

 

Update on 08/06/2016:

 

Despite a big push by the contractors on site, equipment breakdowns and deteriorating weather, we're still working to clear the huge amount of silt which we removed from the damaged bed area. With only one way in and out for construction materials and waste, and limits on the size of equipment we can safely use next to washwalls, the process has been slower than we wanted.

 

We'll be on site with excavators, pumps and dumpers all day tomorrow (Thursday) and are confident that we will have removed the silt and carried out the minor repairs to bed and washwall by the evening. We will then start the process of refilling the canal over Thursday night and Friday, and will have the canal open to navigation on early Saturday.

 

This is later than we first thought which will be disappointing we know, once again we're grateful for your support and will let you know we're on track on Friday morning.

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Anyone know if there are lots of boats waiting to move?

We're hoping to go back to Aston this weekend We're planning to get close to the northern side by Friday so we can have a good run down to the tunnel on Saturday.

+1

 

G

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We are waiting to get back to base from the southern side so we hope we don't get caught in the crush by the escapees from the northern side. Its probably going to be a bit like the M25 in rush hour.

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I'm at the northern side of the blockage. There are a total of 10 boats here at least 2 of which are going to stay put when it re opens. There could be more further back of course. There's room here at Whitely Green for another half a dozen or so boats.

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