aim is to restore the canal along its whole
length of 23 miles for recreational and
amenity use and this includes creating
fresh water habitat for aquatic fauna and
flora. Much restoration work has since
been achieved and so far 21 bridges
11 locks and two aqueducts have been
restored or, in some cases, built from
scratch.
The first major scheme was at Drungewick
Lane, east of Loxwood involving the
construction of a new aqueduct and road
bridge. The project was completed in
2003, at a cost of £700,00.00. In 2005 an
even bigger project, which was to take
four years to complete, was commenced.
The purpose was to restore navigation
under the B2133 High Street at Loxwood,
close to the very welcoming Onslow Arms
public house. This involved the building
of a new road bridge, an entirely new lock
with accommodation bridge and lowering
part of the canal for some 300 yards to
avoid the need for a hump back bridge, as
was previously required. The total cost of
this project was of the order of £1.9 million.
Two further locks have since been opened
north-west of Loxwood, and three miles
of the canal in the area are fully open for
navigation by small boats. Much work
continues to be done over the rest of the
canal, and the Trust is currently aiming to
have 1¼ miles of the waterway between
Dunsfold and Alfold open next summer –
its first major navigation restoration project
in Surrey.
This involves the replacement of a
wartime concrete causeway with a
new Compasses Bridge, at one of the
entrances to Dunsfold Aerodrome.
Planning permission was recently obtained
for the bridge and most of this canal
section, known as the Summit Level, has
already been de-silted and re-profiled.
A major obstacle to the reconstruction
of Gennets Bridge Lock, north-west
of Loxwood – the presence of great
crested newts in the canal – has just been
overcome and the project can go ahead
after several years of planning. The Trust
has been granted a Natural England
licence to gently trap and transfer these
rare and protected reptiles to ponds it has
created nearby.
Depot in Surrey. There is also the “Mrs
Bucket” group, which meets on Mondays
to “keep up appearances” by maintaining
towpaths, banks and hedges in good
order.
The cost of restoring what has become
known as “London’s lost route to the
sea” is, of course, a multi-million pound
business. While the impetus to achieve
complete reopening has been building
during the last few years, with work
necessarily progressing on more than one
site, there is still a long way to go.
The Wey & Arun Canal Trust gets more
than 80% of its funding from private
donations and legacies and the balance
comes by way of grants from charitable
trusts and foundations, with a worthwhile
contribution from the Trust’s commercial
arm, Wey & Arun Enterprises Ltd (WAEL).
Money comes from grantmaking bodies
of many sizes, from family trusts to the
Heritage Lottery Fund, an organisation
that distributes National Lottery proceeds
and can provide serious amounts of
money. Financial help also comes from
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