Current Difficulties

Recently, IWA Stoke-on-Trent Branch began to receive reports that boaters were having great difficulty operating several of the locks.

At the invitation of the Chairmen of IWA Stoke-on-Trent Branch and the Trent & Mersey Canal Society, senior staff from British Waterways joined committee members in inspecting locks on the upper part of the flight in February 2009. Every paddle on every lock was operated, and the locks filled and emptied. Of the 94 paddles, just over half were found to be satisfactorily easy to operate. The rest ranged from hard to very hard and extremely difficult. British Waterways staff are looking into the reasons for this in order to improve the situation.

Traffic in 2008 reached an all-time high and indications are that the growth is steadily continuing. Currently, 9 of the original 48 duplicate locks are closed or filled in. A boat will encounter bottlenecks at the closed locks at busy times and can take as much as two and a half hours longer to pass through the flight than in the 1830s. The ever-increasing popularity of the Four Counties and Cheshire Cruising Rings mean that it has become important to investigate whether some or all of the closed locks should be reinstated.

British Waterways has already agreed to support us and to improve operation of the flight. We are enlisting the power of the voluntary sector to bring the closed locks back in to use, and we are seeking support and funding to facilitate this.

From time to time, members of the societies will visit the flight, talk to users and get up-to-date feedback from those using the locks.

We are also working with local communities to improve the towpath and facilities for all users - walkers, anglers, cyclists and wheelchair users.