Vandalised canal wheel opens after £350,000 repairs

Published on Saturday 12 October 2002 01:00

THE Falkirk Wheel will re-open on Monday after a two-week closure for £350,000 of repairs, after vandals flooded the unique canal boat lift.

The cost, which is more than three times original estimates, yesterday prompted the Scottish Executive to increase funding to help cover the expense.

Police have also renewed their appeal for information about the attack in April, when bolted gates were forced open, causing millions of gallons of water to cascade over the 115ft structure.

Detective Inspector David Wilson, who is leading the investigation, said officers were still following a line of inquiry, but needed more evidence.

British Waterways (BW) said the world’s only revolving boat lift, which connects the Union, and Forth and Clyde canals, would have to close again for a month in February for further checks.

Damage to the 17 million structure, which replaced a series of locks, included waterlogged electrical wiring, which has had to be replaced.

The vandalism delayed the wheel’s public opening by a month, while software glitches have caused several short-term closures since then.

Iain Gray, the transport minister, yesterday announced an extra 2.8 million for BW, which will also help to fund developments beside the waterways, and extra dredging of the Caledonian Canal following last month’s flooding in Inverness.

The extra funding is 1 million more than expected, and almost twice as much as last year. It amounts to a 40 per cent increase in BW’s 7.1 million Scottish budget this year.

The cash boost came as Mr Gray published the first blueprint for the development of Scotland’s canals, which were previously controlled from south of the Border.

Jim Stirling, the director of BW Scotland, said the increased funding, and further extra money expected next year, would enable a backlog of more than 15 million of urgent repairs to the canal network to be cleared by 2004.

These include lock and embankment repairs on the Caledonian Canal, and bank repairs on the Crinan Canal.

Mr Stirling said the re-opening of the Union and Forth and Clyde canals, reconnecting Edinburgh and Glasgow by water, had led to a major increase in visitors.

He said towpaths around Ratho, west of Edinburgh, had seen a 700 per cent increase in use, while the Falkirk Wheel had attracted 230,000 people.

Mr Stirling said a major canalside development was planned in Glasgow in the next two years to mirror the Edinburgh Quay project, at Port Hamilton at the eastern end of the Union canal, which is due to be completed next year.

The City Wharf scheme, near Speirs Wharf on the north side of Glasgow city centre, will be led by BW’s new development arm, ISIS, to create homes, offices, bars and restaurants.

The Executive’s canal strategy includes a possible tidal barrage in the River Carron to improve access to the Forth and Clyde canal from the Forth at Grangemouth.

However, Mr Stirling played down the significance of a reference in the document to making the River Leven navigable so boats could reach Loch Lomond from the Clyde.

He said: "It is a logical thing to look at, but the Leven is not part of the canal network and we are a long way away from saying it should be done."

Mr Gray said he hoped to reap similar economic rewards from canal development to those achieved in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester. Re-opening of the canals between Edinburgh and Glasgow, which cost 84.5 million, is expected to boost the area’s economy by 50 million a year and attract some 400 million of private investment.

Mr Gray said: "The old perception of canals has been that they were simply derelict dumping grounds. We must make more of these historic assets and use them to encourage economic regeneration not only in urban areas but rural areas too."

The final link

OPENING the Falkirk Wheel reconnected a water link between Edinburgh and Glasgow that was severed 40 years ago after serving as an artery for Scottish industry for amost 200 years.

It also marked the completion of the restored Scottish canal network.

The Union Canal links the capital with Falkirk. It connects at the wheel with the Forth & Clyde Canal, between Grangemouth on the Forth and Bowling on the Clyde, west of Glasgow.

Further north, the Crinan Canal provides a short cut up the west coast between Ardrishaig, on Loch Fyne, and Crinan, while the Caledonian Canal connects Fort William with Inverness.