A RECENT open day by the the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust, to highlight plans for the Newent and Oxenhall section, is being hailed as a great success by organisers.

The event took place earlier this September and had the stretch "buzzing with people braving the elements to find out more about the Trust's plans to build the section of canal from Oxenhall through Newent Station".

A spokesman added: "A recently-acquired section of the canal route southwards from Oxenhall links the site to Newent's old train station, on the east side of the town. The plan is to restore the station platforms, which are still in place, and run the canal between the platforms.

"An original footbridge, which has been stored on site, will be restored to its former glory and a tea room and visitor centre will be built in the original style of the former station building."

Organisers for the open day were delighted by "a constant stream of visitors".

They took advantage of a newly created path through the Old Willows nursery, on through the woods skirting the Ell Brook and finishing at the station.

The spokesman added: "Trust volunteers were on hand to answer any questions on the proposed plans and some visitors left afterwards having joined up as members, and there was plenty of tea and cake consumed to help the day go with a swing."

The Trust’s objective is to rebuild the 34-mile canal from Hereford to Gloucester which connects to the national 2,500-mile inland waterway network.

The intention is to provide "a financially sustainable independent canal which does not require support from public bodies or other charities for its future operation and maintenance".

The Trust has major restoration sites in both counties, "which together extend to over four miles, and plans to progress several other developments in the near future".

This includes a stretch through Ledbury, although it won't be possible to follow the original route in its entirety, because of later developments.

However, the planned building of a new housing estate to the north of Ledbury viaduct could also lead to narrowboats passing through the town for the first time in more than a century.

The restoration of the Ledbury section of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal through Ledbury is included in Herefordshire Council's planning blueprint for the next two decades, the Core Strategy.

The restoration of the Ledbury length, of around 4000 metres from the Ross Road to beyond the viaduct, could be paid for, at least in part, with contributions from developers.

The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal took 53 years to build and was completed in 1845, making it the last major route built in Britain. The canal stretched for 34 miles from the River Severn at Gloucester, via Newent, Dymock and Ledbury to the city of Hereford, using twenty two locks and three tunnels. The canal was formally closed in 1881 to allow construction of the Ledbury to Gloucester railway which, in turn, was closed in 1964.