Boats stranded after canal dries up during drought

Boats have been unable to leave Aylesbury after the local arm of the Grand Union Canal dried up

Boats have been left stranded due to low water levels in a canal following the summer drought.

The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal has been closed since 16 June by the Canal and River Trust.

According to The Aylesbury Canal Society boats have not been able to leave the drydock while others have remained stuck in the canal.

Dale Canfield, from the Canal and River Trust, said the waterway is more than 200 years old and needs more investment to keep up with maintenance.

Nick Coolican-Smith said nobody is to blame for the closure, though more maintenance could be done

Four reservoirs supply the Grand Union Canal but a lack of rain has left them without water, meaning the canals cannot be topped up.

Nick Coolican-Smith, the chairman of the Aylesbury Canal Society, said the business could lose at least £10,000 as a result of the closure.

He said :"We've lost probably tens of thousands: boat cancellations, about a dozen dock bookings cancelled or postponed, and then the ripple effect to guys who come and work here on the boats or paint the boats.

"A lot of people's holidays have gone out the window. A lot of people trying to get their boats back from holiday and are stuck in various places.

"In some places are rows of boats just sat on the bottom of the canal, leaning sideways... They are stuck there indefinitely. Nothing they can do."

He added that while there are usually water problems in September, it was unusual to experience issues from June.

"The last time it was like this, I am told, is 1976," he said.

Dale Canfield said the canal needed investment to deal with leaks

Mr Canfield said: "It needs a huge investment to deal with the leaks, with all the problems we have got and then to maintain keeping navigation open which we'd all love to do.

"But there isn't the funding and the resource currently to do that."

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson said: "Our canals provide a wide range of benefits, such as connecting people to nature.

"That is why we are investing more than £480m of grant funding to the Canal and River Trust between now and 2037 to support the essential infrastructure maintenance of our much-valued waterways."