SANKEY Canal is set to be restored thanks to a new partnership.

The Sankey Canal Restoration Society (SCARS) has teamed up with the Canal and River Trust and three borough councils to protect the 14-mile waterway, which was the country’s first industrial canal.

It opened in 1757, four years before the Bridgewater Canal, and was built to carry coal from the Lancashire coalfields to the port in Liverpool.

Thanks to the construction of the waterway and extensions to the route, the chemical industry was set up on the banks of the River Mersey near Widnes.

The canal was also the first to have a viaduct crossing for the railway and was home to Britain’s first staircase lock.

But after the use of waterways to transport cargo declined, the canal was shut in 1963 and can no longer be navigated as the M62 and several roads have severed the route.

At a conference in St Helens, a new partnership was formed to preserve the historic waterway.

Chantelle Seaborn, north west manager with the Canal and River Trust, commented: “Canals were once the motorways of their day but now two centuries later they are undergoing a wonderful renaissance as peaceful havens for people and wildlife, away from the bustle of modern urban life.

“The Sankey Canal offers huge potential to drive forward economic prosperity, health and wellbeing. The long-term aspiration is for full restoration of the route. However this will take time and funding.” Email colin.greenall@btinternet.com for more information.