Wheels are now in motion to turn a disused canal near Telford into a tourist attraction with education and training facilities as part of an £86million scheme to restore the Shrewsbury & Newport Canal.
Telford & Wrekin Council purchased the one-acre Wappenshall Junction site near Preston upon the Weald Moors, for an undisclosed six-figure sum in January.
It has just granted a 125-year lease to The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust who can now move ahead with plans to restore it.
The regeneration project will act as the catalyst for the trust’s larger-scale plans to reinstate the canal network between Norbury Junction and Wappenshall.
The new agreement means the trust can now secure funding from organisations such as The Architectural Heritage Fund and begin a five-year plan to transform the area.
The site, constructed during the 1830s, includes Grade II-listed buildings, a former canal basin and a bridge designated as an ancient monument.
In recent times it was used by haul- age company BJ Waters, which put it up for sale on the open market after it stopped being used as a canal in 1944.
The trust plans to fully restore the buildings to provide education and training facilities, a visitor centre, shop and office.
It will be turned into a museum and headquarters for the trust, which hopes eventually to open up the waterway all the way from the Shropshire/Staffordshire border to Ditherington Flax Mill at Shrewsbury.
Councillor Eric Carter, council cabinet member for regeneration, said: “The council’s purchase and leasing of the site to the trust demonstrates our commitment to helping the long-term restoration of the Shrewsbury and Newport Canal and the wider regeneration across areas of the borough.”
Chris Chambers, trust chairman, said: “Wappenshall Junction is pivotal to our restoration proposals.
“We are grateful to the council for sharing our vision and working with us in such a positive way.”
The council always planned to lease the site lease it back to the trust over the long term but the deal was due to be signed on or before April 14.
Work on the Wappenshall project is expected to take about five years.
