Give priority to canal link

Your report on the fully accessible new canal bridge at Brownhills (June 4) is welcome news, as the new structure replaces an alpine-style bridge with very steep steps that was inaccessible to many people.

It's good, too, that Walsall Council has contributed to the cost.

But, if Councillor Andrew and his cabinet colleagues are really serious about the improvement and regeneration of Brownhills and its canals, a key priority must now be to give meaningful backing to restoring the town's canal link to Lichfield.

Once this and the Hatherton Canal have been re-instated, and with that, Walsall's links to the northern canal network, there will be huge economic and regeneration benefits to Brownhills and all of Walsall, as through north-south canal traffic becomes possible after decades of the borough being a canal backwater.

The wonderful, dedicated volunteers of the Hatherton and Lichfield Canal Restoration Trust have been working tirelessly for many years for the restoration of these canals, and a major turning point was achieved when agreement from Midland Expressway was won after tough negotiations, allowing the trust to fund and carry out the construction of a canal culvert under the M6 Toll at Churchbridge, and an aqueduct between Brownhills and Lichfield, both enabling future full restoration of through canal navigation as part of the national network.

Without these two motorway crossings, the whole restoration project would have died, so this was a fantastic achievement.

All of this capital expense was covered by the trust from its own charitably raised resources. Some local authorities, notably Lichfield District Council, have helped with funding and in kind; but, as far as I am aware, Walsall MBC has never provided the trust with a penny in funding, nor any other kind of support, notwithstanding the multi-million pound economic benefits to the borough that will come with these canal restorations.

Can I ask Walsall's cabinet to at last get active in providing support to the Canal Restoration Trust by opening discussions with them?

Richard Worrall, Burrowes Street, Walsall.