Trouble-hit Marple Locks are now to remain closed until the end of May.
The Canal and River Trust has revealed that rebuilding work at Lock 11 in Marple is a few weeks behind schedule. It is now planned to re-open the canal to boats at the end of Friday 24th May 2019.
It had originally been planned to re-open the locks in mid-March,. Engineers say they encountered delays in the piling phase of the works, with ground drilling and the installation of reinforced concrete piles behind the existing lock walls proving slower than expected. Some design changes were also needed due to site constraints. The piling is now complete and the ground stable so that the failed lock walls can now be carefully dismantled.
The re-building of the lock walls back to the correct alignment is complex and time consuming, as construction has to comply with heritage requirements, with Lock 11 being a Grade II Listed structure.
Lock 11 has been closed since July 2018 because the sides were moving slowly inward. It had been open on a restricted basis for only a few weeks after the lock flight had been closed from September 2017 because of serious subsidence at Lock 15.
These extended stoppages have affected boaters intending to navigate the Cheshire Ring.
