Extra time granted for £15m transformation of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct visitor facilities
Extra time has been given to allow plans worth £15m to transform visitor facilities at a World Heritage Site to move forward.
A total of £13.3m was awarded from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund in October 2021 to improve the area around the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in Trevor, near Wrexham, with £1.7m to come from other organisations.
The plans include a new welcome area to manage the high number of visitors to the aqueduct, which has caused parking and traffic problems at the Trevor Basin.
Under the terms of the funding, the money was initially required to be spent and work completed on the main projects by March 2024.
However, delays have been encountered, with Wrexham Council citing the well-publicised phosphates issue which has held up planning applications across Wrexham in the last few years, supply chain issues and inflation as the main causes.
The local authority therefore wrote to the UK Government to ask for an extra 12 months for the work to be finish.
A report being presented to councillors later this week confirms the request has been approved.
It states: “Following intensive work in commencing the delivery of the project, a number of challenges became apparent relating to heritage conservation, phosphate mitigation, post-COVID-19 supply chain issues and contractor availability, and significant inflation of materials and labour costs.
“Assessment of these issues made it clear that delivery within the funding timeline was not achievable on some elements of the LUF bid, as originally written.
“To assist with the mitigation of risk, the terms of the LUF grant provide for consideration of requests for project variations.
“In line with other LUF bids across the United Kingdom, the council submitted a project amendment form on behalf of itself and its partners, to request that the LUF funding be extended to March 2025 from the original end date of March 2024.
“This request has now been considered by UK Government officials and approved by the Minister for Levelling Up. Work remains ongoing against this revised timeframe.”
The initial part of the scheme concerns improvements to the area surrounding the Trevor Basin.
It includes investment in a new arrival area, the rewilding of a former industrial site, the development of a new woodland activity area and the creation of an extra walking route.
Work to relocate a boat operator based at the site has already begun, although the report notes completion has been held up due to archaeological finds and the presence of high-pressure water.
The second project is focused on the wider 11-mile World Heritage Site and is aimed at supporting cross-border visitor connectivity in the Dee Valley at Horseshoe Falls, The Four Great Highways and Plas Newydd in Llangollen.
It will also take in the Wenffrwd to Llangollen active travel corridor, including an old railway line and the town of Chirk.
The final scheme will focus on Corwen town centre and its railway station and car park, including a new platform canopy.
The report states: “This is an exciting, cross-county package bid, designed to maximise the potential of the post-COVID-19 visitor economy resulting from the health and wellbeing offer found at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site and the linkage through the Dee Valley in north east Wales.
“Three coherent projects will ‘level-up’ the current deficiency of appropriate user/visitor infrastructure across heritage sites, which inhibits economic growth, wellbeing and prosperity otherwise expected from the presence of such internationally unique heritage and culture assets.
“The projects address access and connectivity within otherwise, constrained locations, which will help ensure equitability of opportunity for both local residents and visitors.”
It adds: “The certainty of the extension of time now allows the council and its partners to make best use of additional revenue support from the UK Government to accelerate delivery and further mitigate some of the issues faced on site.
“Revenue funding will be deployed during the next two months to ensure that capacity is increased across all three projects and additional specialist support can be accessed by the partners to meet identified needs.”
The 126-foot-high Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was built by canal engineers Thomas Telford and William Jessop between 1796 and 1805.
The structure, along with the 11 miles of canal it forms part of, was first recognised by UNESCO in 2009, which saw it granted the same status as Stonehenge and the Pyramids in Egypt.
Annual visitor numbers quadrupled in the decade following its inscription to around 350,000.
A £41m masterplan to revamp the area was unveiled in 2020 to address a lack of investment and provide the right infrastructure to mitigate the impact of larger visitor numbers on local communities.
The report will be discussed by members of Wrexham Council’s Employment, Business and Investment Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday.
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