By Saul Cooke-Black

WORKERS restoring the canal between Stroud and Stonehouse have been hit by a problem after a section of bank collapsed.

Planks had been laid across the canal on top of a concrete bedding to restore Wallbridge Lower Lock.

The next morning water seeped under the concrete bedding, causing the water level to rise and the bank to collapse.

Dave Marshall, Stroud District Council’s canal partnership manager, told the SNJ said: “It’s frustrating more than anything else.

“It was completely unforeseeable and unfortunately just one of those things that can happen when you are working with a 200- year-old canal.

“It will not affect the restoration programme or the public as this section of the canal is not publicly accessible anyway.”

Workers are currently attempting to divert water from where the breach occurred.

It is unclear how long it will take to repair the damage.

The restoration project, run by The Cotswold Canals Trust, is aiming to bring Stroud, Stonehouse, Eastington and Whitminster within reach of Britain’s 2,500-mile network of waterways.

A £15 million bid was launched in May to fund the project.

The first stage, to restore a six-mile stretch of canal between Brimscombe and Stonehouse, is due to be complete this autumn.