VIDEO: Campaigners fear HS2 will stop future restoration of Chesterfield Canal

Canal supporters are urging people to join them in objecting to plans for a high-speed rail service to Sheffield.
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The proposed route for a new high-speed rail line linking London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, via a station at Meadowhall in Sheffield, would see any hope of restoring the Chesterfield Canal destroyed.

The HS2 route skirts the western edge of Rother Valley Country Park and passes close to Swallownest.

Now, the Chesterfield Canal Trust is urging people to speak out against the scheme.

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A trust spokesman said: “The consultation period about High Speed Rail, HS2, ends on Friday 31st January.”

“The trust is appealing for individuals to respond to the consultation by demanding a route be found for the canal to be restored.”

“It is vital the Government understands the depth of feeling among the general public that the restoration of the canal must not be blocked by HS2.”

“The proposed route lies directly on top of the restoration route of the canal for 800m at Renishaw and for 1,200m at Killamarsh.”

“In addition, the links to the proposed HS2 infrastructure maintenance depot at Staveley would cut through the canal’s route at three further points.”

“The Chesterfield Canal Partnership and Derbyshire Council have submitted alternatives and the trust has put in a formal statement of objection to the route where it interferes with the canal’s restoration.”

“However individual responses are also vital – the more the better.”

The Government says HS2 ‘will bring the UK’s Victorian railway infrastructure dramatically into the 21st century, releasing space on crowded lines and bringing the whole country closer together’.

The Chesterfield Canal runs for 46 miles from the River Trent through Notts, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and into the middle of Chesterfield.

Since 1989, 12 miles of the canal have been restored along with 36 locks and 11 bridges and two new marinas built. Only eight miles are left to restore.

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