Ashby Canal

Hopes that the Ashby Canal Association would take over the Transport & Works Act Order from Leicestershire County Council during 2023 were not realised, but work to that end continues. There has been some delay in establishing that all land included in the order can be brought into council ownership and therefore subsequently transferred to ACA.
On completion of the project to restore the Ashby Canal through to Measham, the restored canal will cross the Gilwiskaw Brook, a Natural England Special Area of Conservation on a high-level aqueduct. An ongoing buy-a-brick campaign has, to date, raised upwards of £90,000 towards this feature. In November 2020 a breach occurred in the section from Snarestone Wharf to Bridge No 62 which was restored by LCC. Remedial work has taken place and ACA has now installed a stop gate at Snarestone Wharf, which is the interface with CRT waters.
A length of the original canal north of the present terminus near Bridge No 62, where no mining subsidence has taken place, will be dug out to the original profile. The excavated material staying on site will be moved forward to where subsidence has occurred. ACA volunteers have already carried out extensive ground clearance in preparation for this work.
Local contractors have volunteered to deliver a quantity of clay and topsoil removed in the course of work on other unconnected sites and are paying the association for agreeing to receive it.

While awaiting formal transfer of the TWAO, ACA volunteers have completed a footpath following the route that the restored canal will take through to Measham. This has been part-funded by an IWA grant and is already proving very popular with local people, besides enabling visiting boaters to walk to Measham without venturing onto local highways.
There is planning permission for a housing estate in Measham, which will include restoration of 1.1km of Ashby Canal as an integral part of the scheme. The development on the originally proposed line has been made much more likely by the amendment of the Integrated Rail Plan last year, including the abandonment of the HS2b route including the proposed section through Measham.

_{April 2024}