Peter's Waterways Blog Birmingham's Summer Stoppages This was first published in IWA West Riding's Milepost in May 2017, with an analysis of why Birmingham should have scheduled lock closures in the summer.

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One of a number of stoppage notices says "From 2nd May to 6th June the lock gates on Brades Double Locks are being replaced and brickwork repairs undertaken. This is part of the planned summer stoppage programme across the West Midlands. Due to the volume of work required across the waterway, [C&RT] have identified several projects that are to be undertaken in the summer rather than the traditional winter period. They have been selected due to the fact that they all have suitable diversion routes which will minimise the impact on our customers.The diversion route is via the Old and New main Lines." It sounds sort-of-innocuous: the Summer stoppages to complement the Winter ones. C&RT say they have allocated more money to Birmingham repairs than is capable of being used by their lock repair team during the winter, so they need to work during the summer. These stoppages are in addition to any emergency stoppages, and they further reduce the navigability of the system at a time when it is being most used: in the summer.

Sign hanging on bridge over the New Main Line

Dudley Port Junction fingerpost

It's obvious that it is cheaper and easier to do repairs in the summer, and that the repairs improve the system. That's not the point. It's also obviously cheaper to run a closed canal than an open one: that's the challenge and the purpose of C&RT: to keep the navigations navigable: to attract navigators to navigate them: to have a connected navigable system and not to split it into isolated duckponds. The locks and associated lengths of Birmingham's canals are destinations in their own right. If I plan to navigate Brades Locks, then it's because I want to navigate the only staircae on the BCN: I might want to navigate Brades and Factory and Spon Lane: I'm not using them just as a way of ascending from Birmingham Level to Wolverhampton Level and escaping Birmingham as quickly as possible. It's churlish, no doubt, to point out that the Factory Locks closure is advertised from 20th April to 18th May 2017 with a diversion "via the Brades locks." and that overlapps the Brades closure by a fortnight. I wonder if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

There's another absurdity: C&RT say their stoppages "all have suitable diversion routes": except that the only route to Titford Pools via Oldbury Locks is closed from 17th July to 4th August "Whilst all other summer stoppages have had a diversion route, this one unfortunately does not." The existence of a diversion is a happenstance, and if there isn't one, they go ahead anyway, and tell us it's "unfortunate". "due to the timing it would have minimal impact on our customers" they say. Why is the timing, including the school holidays, supposed to reduce the navigation demands? The explanations that C&RT have issued are weak and unhelpful. We should oppose them: "Stop The Stoppages".

Closed paddle at Lapworth flight

Lapworth flight

As ever, C&RT are incapable of understanding the complexities of planning of a trip on their waters with the disruption caused by their stoppages, both planned and emergency, and the interactions between them. We were on the BCN after the IWA Restoration meeting at Lapworth on Sunday 14th, and we moored Copperkins as close to Lapworth Village Hall as the lock pounds allow. We had to return to Streethay by the end of Wednesday 17th, about 30 hours' canalling with a planned route of Wolverhampton21, Staffs and Worcs to Great Haywood, Trent and Mersey to Fradley, then Coventry to Streethay Wharf.

We already knew of the Factory Locks closure, and there was a small sign just before Dudley Port Junction, although there was no way of knowing that "Navigation closed" was supposed to mean "Navigation closed beyond the junction straight-on, but it's OK to go left through Netherton Tunnel". Not all users carry a mental map of the BCN. This was not the problem for our trip. The disruption was another stoppage notice issued at lunchtime on Monday 15th saying "Due to a broken balance beam at lock 10, the [Wolverhampton] flight will be closed with immediate effect." There was no repair-time information from the people looking at the failure: it was up to us to guess from afar whether the problem would take an hour to fix, or a day, or three days or a fortnight. As it happened, we guessed correctly. There was no repair-estimate until Thursday 18th, and the lock actually reopened on Saturday 20th. We didn't have an extra ten hours canalling-time to navigate an alternative route via Netherton Tunnel and Stourton Junction, so we had to turn-tail and retrace our steps via Salford and the Birmingham and Fazeley.

Old Turn Junction

Closure Sign

Which we did. Until "Due to the unexploded WW2 bomb adjacent to the canal in Aston, we have been advised by the emergency services to close the navigation with immediate effect". There was a viable alternative route this time, via Ashted and Garrison. With a ton of sand and a big boooommph, that was all we heard of the bomb, and we arrived back at base on time. The point is this: a holiday in Birmingham is a worthwhile canalling experience in itself, and a safe option for a trip with a specific end-date because there are alternative routes for emergencies. Had the bomb been found between 19th June and 28th July 2017, an extra month on the 75 years since it was dropped, the "alternative route" via Garrison Locks(*) would have been already closed by its summer stoppage, with extra disruption to users and hopefully a few red faces in C&RT's planning department.

(*) Boating Tip for Garrison. Uniquely, this flight has a water channel behind the lock walls, so that raising a top paddle will have a rush of water behind the bottom gate which will close it. Well done C&RT for keeping these channels working, which over-the-years they haven't always been. Peter Scott @peterjohnscott

Closed Bottom gates at Garrison, pushed by the water from top paddle coming in from the right