New canal moorings close to Macclesfield town centre are now open for boats.
Boaters cruising the Macclesfield Canal often used to struggle to find a suitable place to leave their boats close to Macclesfield town centre. But now thanks to the Canal & River Trust, which cares for the nation’s 2,000 mile canal network, a new 84 metre pontoon has been fixed to the side of the canal bank, near to the A6 Buxton Road Bridge (bridge 37), creating much-needed, visitor moorings for up to six boats.
Funding for the £130,000 project has come partly from public donations to the Trust and partly from the sale of derelict land opposite the new moorings to Adlington, a Cheshire development company, which has planning permission to build 47 ‘extra care’ apartments on the site.
David Baldacchino, waterway manager with the Trust, is grateful for the public donations which will help to enhance the enjoyment of the canal for both local people and visiting boaters.
He said: “Macclesfield is a great place to visit and the new moorings should make it much easier and more convenient for boaters wanting to explore the town centre.
“Creating new moorings at this point has been a challenge due to the way the canal was constructed. The shape of the bed here is too shallow for boats to moor up close to the bank which is why we have had to construct a pontoon.”