Weathering the storm on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal

It’s part of a worrying trend - we have never known a time when extreme weather has caused so many problems on canals - but with extreme weather not going away, neither are we. On the Huddersfield Narrow and across the network your support helps us be there when disaster strikes and funds our robust repairs to the damage done.

As revellers rang in the New Year, the North of England was under siege from some of the worst winter weather on record, battered by unprecedented levels of rain, wind and snow. As the storm raged, the River Tame, which runs alongside the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, broke its banks, causing two large sections of the embankment to slip below the canal. 

After being alerted to the incident, between Mossley and Stalybridge, our emergency response team was quickly on the scene. The canal was immediately closed to boaters and towpath users, the public was notified, and temporary measures were taken to reduce the flow of water and shore up the canal. Once the site was secure, we were able to assess the true extent of the damage.

As it turned out, the first major obstacle was the location, as senior project manager Stuart Sutherland explains: “The slips occurred between the river and the canal, with a built-up area on one side and a nature reserve on the other, with a very steep slope down to the canal, so it was virtually inaccessible.”

So the first job was to establish a temporary thoroughfare. After getting consent from several third-party landowners, with the help of contractors, we installed over 1,000 metres of track, giving us access to the site.

“It was a mammoth effort,” says Stuart. “We had to move a lot of trees and check for badgers, nesting birds, and other wildlife to make sure we weren’t impacting the natural environment. We also had to construct a platform over the river from which to work, ensure the canal remained in water, and rescue the fish, moving them up- or downstream.”

With everything in place, work to restore the embankment began in the spring. To replace the material washed away in the storm, the team came up with a unique solution from Japan, using two-tonne ‘rockbags’ – flexible mesh bags filled with small rocks – to create a strong retaining structure and guard against future weather events. Once in place, the ‘rockbags’ were covered over with soil and vegetation.

Work to reinstate the embankment was completed last month, further work to reduce leakage through the lock wall then followed. Sadly, the incident in January is by no means an isolated one.

Last winter, our waterways were struck by eight major storms in three months, damaging banks, breaching canals, and causing collapses. Our teams carry out more than 5,000 repairs a year to keep our canals safe and open for boaters, walkers, and cyclists, while protecting our precious wildlife and preserving our priceless heritage structures. Yet simply more repairs are needed than we can afford to fix.

Now, following the UK’s hottest summer on record, which has seen wooden joints shrink, embankments loosen, and walls and towpaths crack, we’re bracing ourselves for one of our worst winters yet.

But by supporting our appeal you can help protect our canal heritage, power our teams on the ground and prepare for the winter storms to come. With your support, we can do so much more than simply carry out running repairs – we can build back stronger and make our canals more resilient to a changing climate.