News: The key Rotherham sites along a restored Chesterfield Canal
A newly published masterplan for the restoration of the Chesterfield Canal includes details of key sections through the Rotherham borough, and big opportunities for Kiveton and Rother Valley Country Park.
The vision is for the Chesterfield Canal corridor to be reclaimed as a place for the local community to live, enjoy, and be employed; for tourists and visitors to come, play and stay; for new and existing businesses to grow and prosper; and for nature and biodiversity to thrive.
A new high level Strategic Outline Case covers the corridor between Chesterfield and Kiveton Park. It includes new canal and water-based opportunities and introduces a range of activities to attract tourists and local residents.
Opening in 1777, the route passes Chesterfield, Retford, Worksop and Gainsborough. Partners and stakeholders have been restoring the waterway for a number of years but in the south of the Rotherham borough restoration work remains to be done. In 1907 a collapse in the Norwood Tunnel close to Kiveton severed the length from Chesterfield to Killamarsh from the national network. There now remains approximately 8.5 miles of the canal to be restored between Staveley and Kiveton Park to make the canal fully navigable once more.
In the new business case, 18 different hubs have been identified along the canal corridor, each with potential project ideas.
At Kiveton in Rotherham, the masterplan sets out how improving transport links and train services at Kiveton Park Station, alongside a restored canal, could open up nearby areas for a £100m redevelopment. The plans state that the former Wireworks and Astone Works sites "represents a significant economic regeneration opportunity. The land is allocated in the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Local plan as industry and business; however exploring mixed use with residential should not be discounted, these would potentially help sustain an enhanced link with the railway, with the canal and cycle networks providing the leisure opportunities for residents."
Kiveton Waters is also included in the masterplan. Here potential interventions centre on transforming existing fishing ponds into a marina. The site of the former Kiveton Park Colliery has been transformed into a natural landscape but the future could include a marina and relocated fishing ponds with a new cafe / cycle / kayak hire building. An enhanced country park at Kiveton could host new cycling and walking trails, boat trips and outdoor community events.
The site is over the collapsed Norwood Tunnel and pragmatic restoration would see the sound part of the tunnel from Kiveton Park in use to emerge and follow a surface route through the country park via locks. An idicative cost for Kiveton Waters is between £9m and £16m.
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The masterplan also mentions land between Kiveton Community Woodland and the M1, south of Wales where a new surface route for the Chesterfield Canal would cross the motorway using an existing underpass. Authors say that with a new surface canal, the greenbelt site "holds potential for a mixed-use development that combines residential and commercial facilities" with a £41m cost.
Another option includes constructing a new, shorter tunnel under the M1 with greenspace preserved, and has a more modest cost of £5.7m.
West of the M1, and still in the Rotherham borough, the £4.1m restoration of Norwood Locks would involve extensive work to repair and rebuild the thirteen locks, making them navigable once more. Other interventions at this significant heritage feature on the edge of Nor Wood involve using a former water powered mill as a heritage centre and workshops, enhancing the old tunnel mouth and introducing an Arts and Interpretation Trail.
At Rother Valley, a popular country park in Rotherham, Nethermoor Lake would be utilised for the canal route due to the development of housing on the original route through Killamarsh.
Potential interventions in the masterplan include the development of a marina and mooring facilities. The plan states: "The link would connect the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, Gulliver’s and Rother Valley Country Park with the Chesterfield Canal. This would promote tourism, and support economic development, potentially making Rother Valley and Nethermoor Lake a key junction in the network of restored waterways."
A significant engineering solution proposed for Nethermoor Lake at Rother Valley is the construction of a boat lift (sketch,top), similar to the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland. The plans state that the lift would be a quick and visually striking way to move boats, adding: "If implemented, the boat lift could become an iconic feature, drawing visitors and boosting local tourism and education as STEM demonstration project. However, the feasibility, costs, and long-term maintenance of such a structure would need weighed up in a cost / benefit analysis. The alternative and more pragmatic option [is] for a series of 6 - 8 locks."
The boat lift option has an idicative cost of £24m and the locks, £3m.
The Chair of the Partnership, Cllr Alex Dale, said: “Those of us who are close to the mission to restore the rest of the Chesterfield Canal, inherently know there are huge benefits economically, socially, environmentally and for the health and wellbeing of our local population. But as a partnership, it’s vital that we communicate the huge potential of a fully restored and navigable canal more publicly, especially for potential funders, to help secure the significant sums needed to finish the job. That is exactly what this new masterplan is all about."
Chesterfield Canal Partnership website
Images: Focus Consultants / Sigma Architects / Canal & River Trust
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The vision is for the Chesterfield Canal corridor to be reclaimed as a place for the local community to live, enjoy, and be employed; for tourists and visitors to come, play and stay; for new and existing businesses to grow and prosper; and for nature and biodiversity to thrive.
A new high level Strategic Outline Case covers the corridor between Chesterfield and Kiveton Park. It includes new canal and water-based opportunities and introduces a range of activities to attract tourists and local residents.
Opening in 1777, the route passes Chesterfield, Retford, Worksop and Gainsborough. Partners and stakeholders have been restoring the waterway for a number of years but in the south of the Rotherham borough restoration work remains to be done. In 1907 a collapse in the Norwood Tunnel close to Kiveton severed the length from Chesterfield to Killamarsh from the national network. There now remains approximately 8.5 miles of the canal to be restored between Staveley and Kiveton Park to make the canal fully navigable once more.
In the new business case, 18 different hubs have been identified along the canal corridor, each with potential project ideas.
At Kiveton in Rotherham, the masterplan sets out how improving transport links and train services at Kiveton Park Station, alongside a restored canal, could open up nearby areas for a £100m redevelopment. The plans state that the former Wireworks and Astone Works sites "represents a significant economic regeneration opportunity. The land is allocated in the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Local plan as industry and business; however exploring mixed use with residential should not be discounted, these would potentially help sustain an enhanced link with the railway, with the canal and cycle networks providing the leisure opportunities for residents."
Kiveton Waters is also included in the masterplan. Here potential interventions centre on transforming existing fishing ponds into a marina. The site of the former Kiveton Park Colliery has been transformed into a natural landscape but the future could include a marina and relocated fishing ponds with a new cafe / cycle / kayak hire building. An enhanced country park at Kiveton could host new cycling and walking trails, boat trips and outdoor community events.
The site is over the collapsed Norwood Tunnel and pragmatic restoration would see the sound part of the tunnel from Kiveton Park in use to emerge and follow a surface route through the country park via locks. An idicative cost for Kiveton Waters is between £9m and £16m.
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The masterplan also mentions land between Kiveton Community Woodland and the M1, south of Wales where a new surface route for the Chesterfield Canal would cross the motorway using an existing underpass. Authors say that with a new surface canal, the greenbelt site "holds potential for a mixed-use development that combines residential and commercial facilities" with a £41m cost.
Another option includes constructing a new, shorter tunnel under the M1 with greenspace preserved, and has a more modest cost of £5.7m.
West of the M1, and still in the Rotherham borough, the £4.1m restoration of Norwood Locks would involve extensive work to repair and rebuild the thirteen locks, making them navigable once more. Other interventions at this significant heritage feature on the edge of Nor Wood involve using a former water powered mill as a heritage centre and workshops, enhancing the old tunnel mouth and introducing an Arts and Interpretation Trail.
Potential interventions in the masterplan include the development of a marina and mooring facilities. The plan states: "The link would connect the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, Gulliver’s and Rother Valley Country Park with the Chesterfield Canal. This would promote tourism, and support economic development, potentially making Rother Valley and Nethermoor Lake a key junction in the network of restored waterways."
A significant engineering solution proposed for Nethermoor Lake at Rother Valley is the construction of a boat lift (sketch,top), similar to the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland. The plans state that the lift would be a quick and visually striking way to move boats, adding: "If implemented, the boat lift could become an iconic feature, drawing visitors and boosting local tourism and education as STEM demonstration project. However, the feasibility, costs, and long-term maintenance of such a structure would need weighed up in a cost / benefit analysis. The alternative and more pragmatic option [is] for a series of 6 - 8 locks."
The boat lift option has an idicative cost of £24m and the locks, £3m.
The Chair of the Partnership, Cllr Alex Dale, said: “Those of us who are close to the mission to restore the rest of the Chesterfield Canal, inherently know there are huge benefits economically, socially, environmentally and for the health and wellbeing of our local population. But as a partnership, it’s vital that we communicate the huge potential of a fully restored and navigable canal more publicly, especially for potential funders, to help secure the significant sums needed to finish the job. That is exactly what this new masterplan is all about."
Chesterfield Canal Partnership website
Images: Focus Consultants / Sigma Architects / Canal & River Trust
