A CAMPAIGNER fears that a multi-million pound development will put an end to any hopes of bringing a canal back to Bolton town centre.

Steven Parker, who founded the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Society in 1987, says that plans to regenerate Church Wharf could be fatal to his dream of seeing the canal restored to its former glory.

The Bolton News revealed last week that the council is hoping to build 500 homes on the site, as well as a new access road off St Peter’s Way.

REVEALED: Multi-million pound regeneration of Church Wharf, in Bolton town centre, is back on council's agenda

The Bolton News: The Bolton terminus of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal

PICTURED: The Bolton terminus of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal

The canal originally ended at Church Wharf, below Bolton Parish Church, but disappeared when the A666 was built over it in the 1960s.

Now Mr Parker, who published a dissertation on restoring the canal to the Bolton terminus in 1999, says that any new building work should factor in the possibility of its return — or risk losing that chance forever.

He said: “It is quite feasible to restore the canal and always has been. The problem we have is that if you do not factor in the potential return of the canal now then it will never be able to happen.

VIDEO: A walk along Church Wharf development area

“I think there is a mindset in Bolton that the canal is gone and buried, but that doesn’t have to be the case.

“However, if you develop the land at Church Wharf and put in an access road adjacent to St Peter’s Way then the canal will never return to the town centre.

“It will kill any realistic possibility of it ever happening.”

Mr Parker suggested that the canal could run under St Peter’s Way and a new lock created at the Burnden viaduct.

He added: “I don’t expect the restoration of the canal to be incorporated into this development, but that strip of land should be protected.

“If you look at places like Castlefield then you can see the benefits that having a canal can bring.”

However, Paul Hindle, the current chairman of the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal Society, says that restoring the canal to the town centre would require ‘something very drastic and very expensive’.

He said: “ I think the chance to bring back the canal disappeared in the 1960s. There simply isn’t enough room to put it back.

“It would take something very drastic and very expensive to bring the canal back to Bolton town centre.

“I think the chances are pretty remote. When we talk about restoration now, the assumption is that it would end at Little Lever rather than going all the way to the town centre.

“It was something that was talked about 10 to 15 years ago, but there are a lot of problems associated with trying to bring it back — there are three aqueducts missing.

“Bolton has always been the council that seems most keen to bring the canal back, but unfortunately it is the area where it is most problematic to do it.”