Historic canal facelift to start

The canal was built to link inland farms to the sea

An 180-year-old north Cornwall canal is being given a £3.8m facelift.

Work to dredge and reline the Bude canal system starts later this week after receiving multi-agency funding and is set to take several years.

It is considered to be of historical importance because of its incline planes and unique sea lock system.

The chairman of the canal regeneration partnership, Neil Burden, said the work was urgently needed: "It is old and tired and leaking like a colander."

The news comes on the same day it was announced some of Britain's canals may have to close because of a £7m cut in government funding which could see British Waterways cut 180 jobs.

'Significant heritage value'

The Cornwall project has been under development over the past decade by organisations working together as the Bude Canal Regeneration Partnership.

Funding has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Objective One (European Regional Development Fund) and the South West of England Regional Development Agency.

The money will be used to restore navigation to the lower part of the canal so that boats can travel from Bude to Helebridge, improve public access and to provide nearby workshops and employment space for new businesses.

Bude Canal is one of three UK canals identified by the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council as having significant heritage and nature conservation value.

The 35-mile long canal was built in the early part of the 19th Century to provide a transport corridor from the sea and shoreline to inland farms.