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Couple fear company could fold after flooded canal repairs still not made

Phil McCannNorth West
News imageBBC A man in a checkered hoodie and shades next to a woman in a grey hoodie, both pictured next to a blue-signed bargeBBC
Liam Hewlett and his wife Kerry Dainty said they were losing money due to the inaction

A husband and wife have warned their company supplying fuel to boats will soon be "unsustainable" because of the time it's taking to fix a collapsed embankment which has blocked England's oldest canal.

The Bridgewater Canal in Cheshire burst its banks during heavy rain on New Year's Day 2025 near the village of Little Bollington in Cheshire.

But building work to repair the breach still has not begun and boat owners, nearby residents and businesses have criticised the time it's taken.

The Bridgewater Canal Company, owned by Peel Holdings, did not reply to the BBC's requests for comment.

Kerry Dainty from Midlands and Coast Canal Carriers Ltd, said: "If nothing changes there's nothing we can do – this just isn't sustainable.

"There doesn't appear to be any care that we're already losing money hand over fist.

"That'll be 16 years of work down the swanny and there's nothing anyone can do – it's all in Peel's hands."

Drone footage showed the extent of the flooding

Their firm delivers gas bottles, logs, diesel and coal from their base at Preston Brook near Runcorn using a narrowboat which previously traversed almost the full length of the Bridgewater Canal to Leigh and its branch into central Manchester.

Her husband Liam Hewlett said they have had to begin using a second narrowboat to deliver to customers on the other side of the breach but he said the number of potential customers had dwindled because pleasure boaters had been "very scarce" since the collapse.

Most of the canal was refilled in early 2025 after dams were installed either side of the collapsed section – but between the dams vegetation has taken hold, with small trees even growing in the dry canal cutting close to the Dunham Massey estate at Little Bollington.

News imageRubble in a fenced off area surrounded by grass
Much of the damage from the flooding remains visible and fenced off

Repair work was due to begin in August but an update posted on the canal company's website that month said it will now begin "slightly later" than "previously anticipated" because they are awaiting reviews and responses from utility providers and the Environment Agency.

Canal company managing director Peter Parkinson said in August that the firm was at the point of appointing a contractor for the work, adding that "a significant amount of work" had been taking place "behind the scenes".

"While we had hoped to begin construction in August, there are a number of technical and statutory requirements that need to be resolved before works can safely commence," he said.

News imageMarker pen graffiti on a wooden beam reading "when is work starting - 18 months"
Graffiti left in the area reflects people's frustrations at the work not yet beginning

The 39-mile (62.7 km) waterway was built by canal pioneer James Brindley and is considered to be the first canal contructed in England which is still navigable – having opened in 1761.

Narrowboat owner Dave Prunty told the BBC he remembers hearing "an enormous bang" from his mooring near Little Bollington when the section collapsed 20 months ago – and said it had taken "far longer than it should" to fix.

He said there had been "too much time taken up" with "petty politics" and "too many people trying to get involved when really they should have just got a contractor".

Sewage from Little Bollington had to be delivered each day by tanker to the treatment works on the other side of the canal until earlier this year, after the breach severed a sewer.

A meeting of Little Bollington with Agden Community Council was told the canal company had hoped to complete the work in December, if it had begun in August.

In August the canal company said it "remains committed to progressing the project as quickly as possible and is working closely with all parties to resolve the outstanding requirements".

An access road is currently being built to the breach site, but no updated date for the commencement or completion of the work has been given.

Kerry said they had received very limited communication from the canal company and Peel, adding: "We're just staggering through hoping that they might actually do something."

Liam added: "We have reached out a couple of times and it just seems to be tumbleweed – you never get anything back from them."

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