Cotswold Canals Trust stirs up a tide of strong feeling

"I can't possibly agree with them and will do my best to stop them," said landowner John Peel, who owns Dudgrove farm that starts at Lechlade and runs as far as Kempsford.

The 'them' he refers to is the Cotswold Canals Trust (CCT), who for the last 38 years has been attempting to restore the Stroudwater Navigation and Thames and Severn Canals.

Mr Peel is a riparian (someone who has a river on their land) who feels strongly that the eastern stretch of the Thames and Severn Canal, which passes through his land, should not be restored.

So strongly, indeed, that he was a key figure in protest group CONCEPT (Canal Owners and Neighbours Conservation and Environmental Protection Trust), which boasted around 50 members.

"I think it's lunacy," he said. "The project is enormously expensive and there are problems with where the water comes from. They would have to build a great big reservoir. If you are a farmer and you stand in the way of canals everyone thinks you are rotten."

Compulsory purchase of farmers' land, had been previously mentioned, Mr Peel claimed. "I could accept it if it was in the public interest such as a road, but the canal is about recreation," he said.

Chief Executive of the CCT, Ken Burgin, is highly critical of CONCEPT. "They don't seem to have any view of heritage," he said.

CONCEPT has been quiet for several years now as it was believed that the restoration of the eastern stretch of the canal would not proceed when British Waterways withdrew their support in 2008. "It seemed they didn't have a hope," said Mr Peel.

However, a recent gift by British Waterways to the CCT of Inglesham Lock has given the restoration of the canal renewed vigour.

It has been more than 70 years since the great rivers of the Severn and Thames were linked via the Stroudwater Navigation Canal and the Thames and Severn Canal.

And with the help of the 5,500 volunteers of the country's largest Canal Trust, the CCT, working parties have been busy clearing towpaths, renovating bridges and helping to restore locks.

The ambitious restoration plans have been split into three phases. Phase 1a and b are the restoration of the canal between Stonehouse and Brimscombe Port and Stonehouse and Saul Junction.

Phase 1 suffered serious setbacks, the most considerable of these in 2008, when the lead partner in the Cotswold Canals Partnership, British Waterways pulled out of the restoration partnership, taking £6m it had pledged to the scheme with it.

Mr Burgin joined the Trust a few days after British Waterways pulled out. "It made it an interesting time," he said.

The fortunes of the Stroud Navigation Canal, which stretches for seven miles, have now been transformed thanks to a successful multi million pound lottery bid and Stroud District Council taking over as lead partner.

Although many hurdles remain, it is possible that this part of the canal restoration will be completed by 2014 bringing with it, the Trust estimates, an extra 215,000 visitors a year to the area and attracting £83m in private sector investment.

Phase 2 of the canal restoration plans involves the restoration of the canal from the Thames at Inglesham lock, Lechlade, as far as South Cerney.

A lot of the work on restoring locks in the South Cerney area has already been completed, including Boxwell Springs and Cerney Wick lock. "We are almost running out of locks to restore in that area," said Mr Burgin.

There are huge challenges facing this phase of the project, not least because much of the canal lies on private land, such as Dudgrove farm.

"The Eastern end of the canal is in a lot of private ownership. It is mainly farmers at this end," said Mr Burgin.

While he admitted that the response from farmers had been "volatile" he also believes that the increasing trend is positive.

"There are changes in attitude with the younger farmers. The more difficult landowners tend to be the older gentlemen farmers.

"The canal can add value and the savvy landowner knows this," he said.

For this stretch of the canal to become a working reality it cannot be in multi ownership, Mr Burgin believes. "We have to end up where the canal is owned by one body. It cannot work if different landowners own canals. But it must be a fair arrangement involving either leasing or buying. We have always recognised that."

The CCT believes that there are many benefits of a working canal rather than a dry one. "Essentially we want a recreation and a wildlife corridor. A dry canal is of limited habitat value. As well as wildlife it will help greatly local communities. Places that had a struggling shop would get added business if the canal was open "

Aside from the issue of ownership, the other problem is the water supply. "We have to come up with alternative means of diverting water into the canal," explained Mr Burgin.

Different options are being explored including taking water from a British Waterways planned new reservoir near Abingdon.

Martin Neville is a landowner and riparian at Frampton Mansell, which would fall under phase 3 of the canal restoration plans, from South Cerney to Brimscombe.

With two locks and a portion of canal on his land his support could be crucial to the success of the restoration plans. "Cotswold Canals Trust have put us in as phase 3 of the restoration but they have not approached me at all," he said. "Outsiders believe that this is going to happen."

He feels that the water and electricity costs to keep the canal running would be too great compared with the numbers of people actually using the canal.

Mr Neville believes that his concerns as a landowner are not being listened to and would like to see an independent pubic meeting. "Openness and transparency are lacking. Considering this is a multi million pound exercise it deserves a public enquiry."

Mr Neville also believes that compulsory purchasing has been threatened. "It annoys me that they (CCT) are doing a sort of moral trespass."

For Mr Burgin canal restoration is not a matter of "if" but more "when" and he is prepared to play the long game. "All we can do as a Trust is be opportunistic with funding and try to get land agreements when we can. The timescale depends upon money and landowners, although when you have money the landowner problems seem to disappear. It is nearer 10 years to completion of phase 2 than five."

CANAL FACT FILE * Cotswold Canals Trust is a member of the Cotswold Canals Partnerhip which includes Cotswold and Stroud District Coucils, the Environment Agency, Gloucestershire County Council and The Waterways Trust.

* The Stroudwater Navigation stretches for seven miles/12km and the Thames and Severn Canal 29 miles/46km.

* Stroudwater Navigation linked the River Severn with the wool town of Stroud, then the 'wool capital' of England and opened in 1779. The canal closed in 1954.

* The Thames & Severn Canal was completed in 1789 and joined the Stroudwater Navigation at Wallbridge in Stroud. Trade declined after the building of the railways and it closed in 1933.

* An ambitious 2 1/4-mile tunnel between Sapperton and Coates was completed in 1789 and was the largest and longest canal tunnel at that time. Cotswold Canals Trust would plan to restore this canal under phase 3 and is confident that this expensive restoration of such an important heritage site would attract funding.