Editing Chesterfield Canal (section)

===Western section===
[[Image:ChesterfieldCanalMillGreenBridge.jpg|thumb|right|Mill Green Bridge was the head of navigation of the western section prior to the opening of Staveley Basin in early 2012.]]
Restoration had focused initially on the route east from [[Norwood Tunnel]] to Worksop, which presented relatively few physical obstacles to being restored to navigation. However, in practice progress had been slow, and attention turned to the section west of Norwood Tunnel, where much more damage had been done to the canal bed, with it being filled in and built over in many places. This included the construction of housing at Killamarsh in the 1970s, which went ahead despite protests. However, parts of the channel had survived remarkably well in places, as it had been used to supply water to the iron industry, and maintained by a team with a boat until the 1950s.{{sfn |Potter |2009 |pp=70–71}} The last few miles of the canal, from Chesterfield to Staveley, were in reasonable condition, although the towpath was overgrown and difficult to access, while much of the route was under threat from opencast coal mining and a planned bypass, which had first been proposed in 1927. Regular work parties began the process of restoration in 1988, organised by the Chesterfield Canal Society, and supplemented by volunteers from the Waterway Recovery Group periodically. Tapton lock was the first to be reopened, in 1990. [[Derbyshire County Council]] acquired the section of canal between Chesterfield and Staveley and secured derelict land grants to enable dredging and towpath maintenance to take place. A campaign to ensure that once all the coal had been extracted from the opencast mine, the canal would be reinstated was successful. Two lowered bridges had been rebuilt by June 2001, and Cow Lane Bridge followed in May 2002. Four more locks were restored, with the {{convert|5|mi|0|adj=on}} section from Chesterfield being reopened to navigation in 2002.{{sfn |Lower |2002 |pp=66–67}}

In a separate development, a private owner of a length of the canal near Boiley Farm, Killamarsh, obtained a Derelict Land Grant to enable him to restore around {{convert|550|yd|m}} of the channel in 1992.{{sfn |Squires |2008 |p=133}} Although used as fishing ponds, the work resulted in a navigable profile being re-established, and a water supply was obtained from a small unnamed brook, which feeds into the southern end of the ponds. An earth bund at the site of the former Gallas footbridge divides the channel into two ponds, and carries a public footpath.{{sfn |Coles |2013b |p=1}} In 1997, the [[Chesterfield Canal Trust]] was formed, as a limited company with charitable aims, and took over the assets of the Canal Society in 1998.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028202557/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/ |archive-date=28 October 2020 |url-status=live |title=Chesterfield Canal |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=11 January 2018}}</ref>

A breach in the canal in March 2007, caused by the collapse of a culvert carrying the [[Tinkersick|Tinkersick Brook]] under the canal, forced temporary closure of all but the top pound above Tapton Lock for about six weeks.{{sfn |Lower |2007 |p=46}} Near the site of the former Renishaw Iron Foundry, which closed in 1992 and was subsequently redeveloped for housing, a length of canal was re-excavated in 2007–08. The work included the new Renishaw Foundry footbridge (18a), which connects the housing to green space and a play area on the bank of the canal, and deep piling where an embankment originally carried the canal over the Smithy Brook.{{sfn |Coles |2013a |pp=1–2}} The development of the site ceased in 2010, when there were issues with ownership of the land.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/we-dig-em-and-then-we-fill-em-in/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713020212/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/we-dig-em-and-then-we-fill-em-in/ |archive-date=13 July 2018 |url-status=live |title=We dig 'em and then we fill 'em in |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |date=4 November 2010 |access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref> Since then, there have been issues with vandalism, and the lack of a natural water supply has been a continuing problem.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/chesterfield-canal-clean-up-at-renishaw/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713013110/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/chesterfield-canal-clean-up-at-renishaw/ |archive-date=13 July 2018 |url-status=live |title=Chesterfield Canal Clean Up at Renishaw |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |date=3 May 2014 |access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref>

Over the winter of 2010–11, the Canal Trust obtained its first permanent base, when the lock house at Hollingwood Lock was renovated and a large extension added to the rear. The building, which is known as the Hollingwood Hub, was funded by a grant from Community Assets, part of the government's Office for Civil Society, and provides offices for the Trust, a meeting room and a coffee shop. The ecology of the area was improved by the planting of 450 trees, provided by the [[Woodland Trust]], in November 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/gallery/photos/hollingwood-lock-house/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610034348/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/gallery/photos/hollingwood-lock-house/ |archive-date=10 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=Hollingwood Hub |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref>

The next big advance was the opening of some {{convert|660|yd|m}} of canal beyond Mill Green Bridge, and the construction of a new mooring basin at Staveley, which was completed in early 2012. Funding for the basin was provided by Derbyshire County Council with a grant from the East Midlands Development Agency, and the work which included the reclamation of the surrounding land, won an award from the Institute of Civil Engineers, given jointly to Derbyshire and the contractors NT Killingley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/gallery/photos/staveley-town-basin/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610025809/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/gallery/photos/staveley-town-basin/ |archive-date=10 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=Staveley Town Basin and the Mill Green Link |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=4 January 2018}}</ref> The work was aided by a road-building scheme for a new Staveley Bypass, which enabled two bridges to be raised and a third to be built, all with sufficient clearance for navigation.{{sfn |Potter |2009 |p=71}}