Warm summer leaves boat owners high and dry as funding cuts bite

Boat owners and users of the Leeds Liverpool Canal have said it is soul destroying to see the waterway closed, overgrown and in disrepair.

- by Charles Gray

The waterway remains closed and is currently dried up in large stretches following one of the driest springs on record and multiple heatwaves throughout the summer.

Those whose boats are currently moored up at Granary Wharf behind the train station expressed their frustration over the lack of maintenance work that has being carried out while the canal has been closed and also raised concern over the future of the historic watercourse.

Cyclists and walkers who utilise the picturesque route also shared their dismay at seeing the canal dried up and overgrown with weeds, with one person saying it was "soul destroying".

The Canal and River Trust, which operates and maintains the canal said last week that it will remain closed until there has been sufficient rainfall. It has also said that it has been "bringing forward" maintenance work where possible and that teams were "working day in day out and against the odds to manage water levels".

All locks along the canal were closed at the start of July by the Canal and River Trust; with the charity urging those living on boats to find somewhere suitable to moor up.