Historic canal remains under threat despite water deal

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

Sunny dry spring days are normally welcomed on the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal but the fine weather this year has only added to uncertainty.

The tranquillity of the 35 mile navigable stretch of the canal from Brecon to Cwmbran has been disturbed by a threat to the very future of the 225-year-old waterway.

Fears it could run dry within weeks, only in part due to limited rainfall, have been allayed after a deal to secure the water supply for this year was reached, but only after weeks of mounting uncertainty over its future.

Built to transport coal and limestone to limekilns at Brecon, Llangattock and Goytre the canal has transitioned from an early industrial highway to a magnet for leisure activity and its tow-path, which runs to Newport along parts of the canal no longer accessible to boats, is well used by walkers, cyclists and commuters on foot.

It’s estimated some 4.6 million people visit a year, generating £26.5 million from those taking boating holidays to spending no more than the the price of a drink at any of the many pubs along the way.

But a decision dating back to 2019 that has limited the right to take, or extract, water from the environmentally sensitive, and highly protected, River Usk remains a threat to its long term future despite the sticking plaster deal agreed for the coming year.

Time bomb

The licensing terms agreed with environmental regulator Natural Resources Wales had been a potential time bomb for the canal but one most only appear to have realised was ticking when the Canal and River Trust, also known in Wales as Glandwr Cymru, lost an appeal against some of the terms governing how much water it takes.

A final decision was published in December which heightened concerns over the sustainability of the water supply while the dry March, which has continued into April, made the situation even more pressing as the canal isn’t being topped up.

“It’s terrible and it was really brought to my attention by Jan Butler the local councillor,” said Penny Phillips of the decision. She has run her Penelope’s Café at Goytre Wharf for the past five years

The 55-year-old opened the business in September 2020, towards the end of the first Covid lockdown, and employs seven to 10 full and part time staff serving customers from those holidaying on boats at the privately managed wharf and day trippers who flock to the popular spot.

Her site is leased from the Canal and River Trust but she says she is in the dark over the future of the canal and fears the wharf’s commercial operators would have limited interest if the canal was left to run dry.

“It’s worrying and nobody has said anything to me, or written to me. It is all so up in the air.

“If the boats can’t run who is going to come here on holiday or who would want to walk up a dry and dusty canal with no water in it?”

‘Very concerned’

Carl Onens, managing director of ABC Leisure Group that operates Goytre Wharf where it employs seven permanent members of staff and additional workers during the boating season, said the firm has been “very concerned” though aware a solution could be possible.

Mr Onens said: “The situation is unprecedented, so it is very difficult to predict.”

The petition started by Cllr Butler, and promoted at the café, easily passed 10,000 signatures meaning it will be considered for a debate in the Senedd.

A potential solution could see water firm Welsh Water provide an additional supply. It and the Canal and Rivers Trust, a former UK Government body that converted to a charity in 2012, had been unable to agree on a price before striking a temporary deal which Welsh Water has said doesn’t incur additional costs for its customers or put supply at risk.

That is only in place for the next year however and it, and the trust which has said it fears having to pay for the water would be a “sizable figure” which as a charity it doesn’t have, will still have to find a longer term solution.

The Welsh Government, which has maintained it shouldn’t be involved in commercial negotiations, had said protecting and enhancing “our environment and natural resources is key to addressing the climate and nature emergencies” now appears to be involved in the discussions, according to the statement issued by Welsh Water announcing the temporary deal.

Senedd debate

Ms Phillips is hopeful a debate in the Senedd will lead to action: “We want the government to step in and pay Welsh Water.”

On the wharf there is scepticism. Andrew Silk, who has kept a boat there for six years, is unsure the government will simply step in and questions executive salaries at the Canal and River Trust and its own maintenance of the canal.

“I’m not worried the canal has been here 225 years,” said the retired 67-year-old from Cwmbran whose boat is kept in the marina for those who only stay onboard for brief periods. He added: “The solution is to pay Welsh Water.”

Lyndon James, a 59-year-old personal trainer from Croesyceiliog has this week taken a mooring at the marina and said he didn’t know much about the risk to the canal’s supply, or that the water came from the Usk.

He has been cruising on the canal, and tying his boat up at different spots while also staying with family, for the past three years and said: “It is a lovely way of life you are five miles from chaos.”

Those with extended moorings stay on the main canal which is where expectant mum Caragh Davies, 28, an audiologist and gas engineer partner Callum Probyn have been staying for the past two years after returning to the UK from travelling.

With a baby on the way the couple want to sell their barge, which costs them around £4,000 annually to keep on the water, and fear uncertainty could deter potential buyers.

“I didn’t really understand it but heard where the water is coming from is no longer an option. I thought it would be one of those things that blows over but is a little bit concerning as we are trying to sell our boat,” said Ms Davies.

Herbie and Chris Reinfield, from the Forest of Dean, keep their boat in the marina which costs them just over £2,000 a year as they pay a £1,700 annual fee to the private operators of the basin and also have to pay for a licence from the Canal and River Trust, which is around £560 a year. Both charges are dependent on the length of the boat.

The couple use the boat for days out, and once, a week’s holiday with friends up to Brecon, having moved it, on the back of a lorry, from its former berth at Sharpness near Gloucester.

“If we can’t get on the water here we will have to get it lorried to somewhere else,” said Mrs Reinfield.

Her husband Herbie said his understanding is while fees collected from all of the UK’s canals are pooled together the popular Monmouthshire and Brecon could meet its own costs from those currently using it.

Afon Llwyd

Six miles south along the canal at the Pontymoile basin in Pontypool the water taken from the Usk is released into the Afon Llwyd which itself feeds the Usk.

Friends Peter Russell, from Cwmbran, and Ian Bevan, of New Inn, who worked together at the local fibreglass factory for 40 years, were taking their weekly walk along the towpath.

“It is a worry as the canal is such a good attraction and for the wildife,” said 75-year-old Mr Russell: “There are so much fish in there, there’s wildlife such as dragonflies and a kingfisher. I’d hate to see it go dry.”