Western Strategy

Focusing our Vision - in seven steps.

1 The Lapal Canal Trust has the grand Vision that the derelict 'half' of the Dudley No.2 Canal, from Hawne Basin in Halesowen to the Worcester & Birmingham Canal in Selly Oak, via the Lapal Tunnel, should be restored incrementally to full navigation. 

    However:

2 Recognising that restoration of the UK's fourth longest canal Tunnel (at 3795 yards) will be a mammoth task, the LCT tempers its vision and divides it into three distinct missions; The Western Approach, i.e. the Halesowen section, The Lapal Tunnel and The Eastern Approach, (i.e. the Selly Oak Extension Canal).

    2A This results in a pragmatic strategy to re-open the canal incrementally along both extensions towards the Tunnel, which may then be restored as the "final link".

3 Translating this general strategy for the Western Approach, LCT aims to create navigable “incremental” extensions away from the current limit of navigation at Hawne Basin to a limit proximate to the Western Portal.  The Halesowen Canal proceeds south from Hawne Basin, where it once crossed underneath the A459 Mucklow Hill and then along through the Leasowes Park to the A456 Manor Way.  After originally passing beneath the A456, the Canal swung east to skirt the ruins of St. Mary’s (or Hales Owen) Abbey and then onto the Western Portal of Lapal Tunnel. 

However:

There are two substantial obstacles to this strategy:

4A.  The construction of a navigable link underneath the A456 Mucklow Hill; and

4B.  The construction of a crossing of the A459 Manor Way.  Moreover, restoration of the Abbey Lands Section (on the far side of Manor Way) is complicated by land-ownership issues and requires siginificant funding to remove infill as part of a comprehensive restoration engineering project.

5.         Thus, the interim strategy is to:

5A        Restore the Leasowes Section of the canal as a ‘linear lake’ (the Embankment Sub-section having already been refurbished to a navigable standard).  Restoration of this Section offers a complimentary amenity to the Leasowes Park (a valued leisure resource in the locality) as well as providing an attractive water feature.  LCT has already supervised a significant civil engineering project to restore the 500-yard Embankment and has had valuable assistance from the Waterways Recovery Group (WRG; a national organisation of volunteer canal ‘navvy’ restorers) to perform ancillary tasks such as clearance work.  It has also detailed strategies, engineering and wildlife plans for the necessary restoration tasks for the remainder of t; and

5B.       Investigate restoring the canal incrementally along the Hawne Section between the Basin and Mucklow Hill.  Proposals for redeveloping the Hawne-South Sub-section length (“Newbank” - which would involve the removal of a pre-fabricated factory unit situated on the line of the channel) have already been made and LCT are actively promoting the redevelopment potential of the ‘Newbank Site’, together with the potential of a restored waterway.   The more immediate plan is to re-open the Hawne-North Sub-section; being the length of canal between the collapsed girder bridge at the south side of Hawne Basin and the ‘stank’ (the current limit of the recognisable canal channel).

6. This strategy is, however, a ‘flexible’ one.  Not least, it is recognised that opportunities may present themselves which dictate that a different policy to that outlined above would best be pursued within the overall Project framework.  For example, the restoration of the Leasowes Embankment, whilst out of synchronisation with the preferred ‘incremental’ strategy, is evidence that LCT are able to adopt a pragmatic approach to achieving restoration of the Halesowen Canal. 

7. To this end, a vital part of the Western Strategy is to maintain a careful “watching brief” on the entire length of Halesowen Canal to ensure that (i) the line of the canal is not prejudiced by any future development proposal; (ii) the restoration Project remains firmly on the agendas within both the public (i.e. local government) and private sectors; and (iii) any opportunity to progress the restoration of any Sub-section of the Halesowen Canal is fully maximised.