WORK on Vale Royal locks is set to start again after British Waterways secured funding for the project.

British Waterways was forced to abandon work on the project – just off the A556 near Hartford blue bridge – in November 2007 because of a major breach of the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal in Wales.

Now the navigation authority has been awarded £2million from the DEFRA organised Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund following a clean up of waterways linked to the 2012 Olympics site.

The DEFRA payment has been used to deal with the work on that development and as a result it has meant British Waterways has been able to free up money – which will be used on Vale Royal locks.

BW will use £700,000 to start work on the collapsed ‘bull nose’ wall of the small lock during the winter months.

They will also have to re-apply to the highways authority for the necessary traffic control orders in order to facilitate safe site access for a section of the A556 dual carriageway.

At the time of last year’s pull out, Julie Sharman, general manager of British Waterways Wales and border counties, said: “We have taken note of local views concerning the traffic management of the project and will ensure these are considered when the project resumes.”

Work will build up over the next two months so that the contractors can start work in early 2009.

In addition to the work required on the small lock, the main large lock and its associated equipment is in need of refurbishment but British Waterways has yet to confirm a start date for the work.