BACK TO PLAN A
CRT have decided that the new and very expensive plan is unworkable, so it’s back to plan A, something they should have worked on the from start rather than cause this very long and damaging delay. Our views are clear in the original piece below. The opening date is still said to be May 2027. We will push them on this as much as we can.
This is what CRT said.
Update 12 August 2026, 9:30am
We understand how much the Anderton Boat Lift means to boaters, visitors and the community. We’re focussed on finding a solution to get the lift operational again while we look to secure the larger investment for its long-term future. We are still aiming to reopen one caisson in May 2027, as planned. Since the closure of the lift, the Trust has carried out extensive work to identify the best way to repair and modify the caisson gate lifting mechanisms to prevent similar failures happening again. Several options were considered and in Autumn 2025, after the investigation into the cause of failure had been completed, the detailed engineering design began. The design considered a solution that would remove the need for cables and provide a robust and reliable lifting mechanism. However, as the designs have progressed, the complexity of doing this on such a historic structure has led to the scope, and the forecast cost, increasing significantly – to the point where that option is currently neither practical nor affordable. Consequently, we have needed to consider an alternative solution, based more closely on the existing cable system, to get the lift open and operational for boaters and all those who visit. The solution needs to be safe, legally compliant and in keeping with the historic status of the structure. We believe we have now found a proposal which requires testing. The next step is for specialist engineers who are familiar with these lifting systems to design and replace the components required before undertaking a series of tests to prove that the solution is safe and viable. The process will also confirm what other works are necessary prior to the lift re-opening for boat use. Customers and visitors will be able to see this activity being undertaken at the lift this Autumn as we replace elements of the lifting systems and begin testing procedures. We expect to know by December 2026 what further work is required in the new year to reopen the lift by May 2027. We will keep everyone updated through this process as to whether the tests are successful and confirm the forecast opening date. The Trust will hold an open day at Anderton in the Autumn. We’ll publish the date once we have the testing programme and at the most helpful point to share progress. The Trust is aware of how frustrating the closure of the lift has been to boaters and that reopening the lift has seemed to be straightforward to many outside of the project team. The open day will provide an opportunity to share more about the options that have been explored and the constraints we have had to work within to get the lift open. It will also be an opportunity to hear about how we approach a secure future for the boat lift in the longer term. Our priority remains to get the lift operating again for boats. We’re sorry for the time it has taken to get to this point – and we’d like to thank everyone for their patience and support while we work towards a solution and the reopening of the lift.
Canal and River Trust have announced that they are “Prioritising” the repair of Anderton Boat Lift but say the work is a year away and it will only be half open by 2027. (see their press release below).
The guillotine gates – one of which suffered a broken wire almost a year ago – are each basically the same as a standard passenger lift, used the world over, and normally fixed within hours. Unlike a passenger lift, there’s not really a safety issue because there is never anything under the gates when it is operated.
Their bespoke £2m repair idea – which has taken a year to figure out – is an utter waste of taxpayers’ money.
It’s ironic that CRT are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the lift this year.
There is a lot of anger and frustration in the boating community (see below), many of whom, like the RWNS President John Tackley, were involved in raising funds to restore the lift in 2002. Some boats were trapped on the Weaver all year and paid to be craned off at great expense. Meanwhile many businesses on the river are suffering.
The delay is a devastating below and we are calling for a simpler, faster and less expensive solution to avoid irreversible damage to the vibrancy of the River Weaver.
Photo: Cheshire Eye in the Sky
CRT Press Release 27.11.25
Anderton Boat Lift gate repairs prioritised to get navigation back open
The Canal & River Trust is today announcing that it will be prioritising the programme of works at Anderton Boat Lift during the year ahead that will see the ‘Cathedral of the Canals’ back open and operational for boaters.
The investment will enable the lift to transfer boats between the Trent & Mersey Canal and the River Weaver once again in 2027. This will remedy the fault with the structure’s caisson gates, discovered during routine maintenance earlier this year, and also provide an overdue update to the lift’s operating system required to make the lift’s passage of boats more resilient.
A much larger project at the Anderton site, that would require additional and unaffordable capital expenditure from the Trust alongside the submission of a successful bid to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, is being paused. This means prioritising the investment needed for navigation but deferring the painting of the lift’s three-storey high iron superstructure together with investment in the attraction’s Visitor Centre.
Jon Horsfall, regional director for the Canal & River Trust, comments: “The priority for our charity is getting the lift open and operational for navigation. It is a remarkable structure and a defining landmark of Britain’s waterways that continues to hold national significance for the canal network.
“The team remains committed to the long-term future of the Anderton Boat Lift. We are focussing on the works required to reopen navigation, whilst pausing the additional spend elsewhere at the lift which is currently unaffordable. In doing so, we are making sure that the limited money our charity has stretches as far as possible so that there is adequate investment in other key areas for navigation including locks, bridges, aqueducts and the network as a whole.
“I’d like to thank our volunteers, donors, partners and the continued interest and vital support we received from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, both here at Anderton but also across the North West and wider canal network.”
The Trust has already commissioned the detailed design of new gate lifting equipment to replace the wire rope system. The installation will happen over the winter of 2026/27 with one caisson being opened in time for the summer season in 2027 and the other caisson also opening as soon as possible after that. Although this seems a long time off, the works are complicated and time consuming. They will see a new lifting mechanism installed on ten separate gates, replacing the current ropes, wires and pulleys. The new system will be robust, future proof, safe to operate and safer to maintain.
Anderton Boat Lift remains a popular visitor attraction, and the team is excited to welcome guests over the winter period. The Anderton Boat Lift Visitor Centre and coffee shop are open every weekend (10am-4pm) throughout the winter season. Don’t miss the free drop-in craft activities running this December, and popular Santa Cruises for songs and stories with Santa and his elves as you travel along the River Weaver.
-ends
Reaction on social media
So for 150 years winches, cables and pulleys sufficed, but now rather than minor redesign and maintenance it’s necessary to spend large sums of money and long periods of time designing a high tech replacement. There was a saying in the drawing office, ‘Anyone can design a complicated way of achieving the requirements, but it takes a designer to find a simple and elegant solution.
CRT has failed…time to withhold payments for rent and licence…this just isn’t good enough…
Absolute Joke! Been way to long already.
…You now have a plan a very disappointing 11 months after the closure. However this remains an unacceptably long period of time. Surely you can develop an interim safe solution to allow limited passage through 2026. It is hardly difficult to envisage how this could be done with negligible additional risk to your staff, volunteers and the general public… Stop hiding behind ‘health and safety’ and work to find a safe option for operation. A commercial operation could not accept this level of outage…
The release says that the work will only start over the winter of 2026, why a year without any work?
Provide open and free access to and from the rest of the canal system via Ellesmere Port and the Ship Canal.
If their bonuses relied on it working it would soon be repaired.
How the hell is the word “prioritising” applicable to the bull & bluster CRT updates on the repair of the Anderton Lift?
