Canal Boat — November 2017

canalboat.co.uk Canal Boat November 2017 65

RESTORATION

clearly visible remains of two locks.

Unfortunately, when the new A50 was built

it made no provision for the canal, but

there are options for crossing the road by

making use of a stream or farm bridge.

That completes the through-route, but

misses out the city centre – and a restored

Derby Canal that didn’t serve Derby would

be missing something. So we will return to

where the proposed new aqueduct crosses

the Derwent to look at DSCT’s proposal to

rectify that omission – via what the Trust

has dubbed The Derby Arm.

That isn’t ‘arm’ in the sense of a branch

canal. No, the Arm is the name coined for

a proposed boat lift. Its caisson (tank) will

lift boats bodily from the canal (adjacent

to the new aqueduct over the Derwent)

and lower them into a short new cut built

at a lower level. This will lead to a junction

with the river, which will then form the

route into the city (and which you can

follow today, via the riverside walkway).

Artists’ impressions show the Arm as a

device looking rather like one of those

‘trebuchet’ catapult contraptions that

mediaeval armies used for besieging

cities. It comes with a hefty price tag of

£18m, but DSCT believes the Arm can form

an attraction which would actually be

commercially viable and generate a profit.

Sceptics will look back to a decade or

more ago, when having seen the success

of the Falkirk Wheel in attracting funding

to restore the Scottish Lowland canals,

restoration groups all over the country

were incorporating sometimes fanciful

ideas for boat lifts into their plans –

several of which have since been dropped.

However Chris points to the 650,000 visits

per year to the Falkirk Wheel; to an empty

triangle of land by the Derwent earmarked

for high-standard, high-value regeneration,

adjacent to a suitable site for the boat lift;

to its proximity to the M1, to centres of

population, and to other attractions such

as the velodrome, football ground and

leisure areas – and to the ‘political’ angle in

which a developer pays the cost of building

the Arm as part of a planning agreement.

You’ll be thinking that this isn’t going to

be one of the parts of the project that’s

likely to see physical progress in the next

year or so – but in a more modest way, it

is. Derby City Council is supporting the

establishment of a small trip-boat

operation on a length of the river in the

city, linking up with the historic Silk Mill,

credited with being the world’s first

factory. It’s hoped to start public trips next

year. And having established the idea of

boating on the river, the Trust has got

together with a canoe club to survey the

depth of the length of river heading out

towards the location for the Arm, as a first

step towards making it navigable.

In this journey along the canal, we’ve

seen some very different approaches: the

volunteer-led plans for Sandiacre and

Borrowash, the community approach at

Draycott, the ‘big business’ ideas for the

Derby Arm, and the local authority getting

involved in setting up a trip-boat service.

But all of them aim to turn the recent

political progress into practical work.

Chris believes they will answer people’s

‘But what’s on the ground?’ questions.

As he puts it, “The disbelievers will

become more believing”.

Shardlow

Trent Lock

Derby

Sandiacre

Trent

& Mersey Canal

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Can
al
River Soar
To Leicester
M1
A50 Possible diversion using
existing culvert under A50
To Burton
and Stoke
Canal blocked
by new A50
Swarkestone
Junction
Shelton Lock
Fullens Lock
Original route
obliterated
Proposed new route into
Derby via River Derwent
Little Eaton Branch
(not planned for restoration)
Proposed new canal
route bypassing Derby
Site for ‘Derby
Arm’ boat lift
Borrowash
Locks
Proposed aqueduct
over River Derwent
To Nottingham
To Langley
Mill
Derwent River Trent
Chellaston Mouth
Wilmorton
Spondon
Draycott Breaston
Toton
Long
Eaton
Sawley
Little Eaton
Impression of the Derby Arm boat lift
Checking depth for tripboats at the Silk Mill
CB