Chesterfield Canal Trust launches £30,000 crowdfunding appeal for Staveley nature area

The Chesterfield Canal Trust expect to begin major groundworks in early 2024 to reinstate 850 metres of the canal running east from the existing limit at Eckington Road and across the Doe Lea valley.

The grand plan, funded by £5.8million of government ‘levelling up’ money, involves new bridges, a lock and leisure infrastructure and is intended to boost visitor numbers in the area by 20 per cent, with all the economic benefits they bring too.

To ensure those visitors get the best possible experience, the trust will plant trees, hedges, wildflowers to create a picnic and viewing area where people and wildlife can relax and enjoy the waterside calm – and the Aviva Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund has brought an opportunity to secure money for that part of the project.

Rod Auton, the trust’s spokesman and one of its 200 volunteers, said: “Beautifying the area has always been part of the plan but because it’s cosmetic stuff, not the actual build, we always said we would raise the money for it separately.

“The work will happen at a later stage, but there was an opportunity now for us to get an extra £15,000 from Aviva, and that’s not an opportunity you turn down.”

Insurance company Aviva kickstarted the appeal with £500 and will give the trust £2 for every £1 it raises, up to a maximum of £15,000, from the fund which is dedicated to nature restoration and connecting communities with their local environment.

Within days of launching, the appeal has already reached that goal – meaning the trust has secured more than £24,500 with Gift Aid added in – but every donation over the next six weeks will count towards realising the trust’s ambitious vision for the section around the new Trans-Pennine Trail bridge at Hartington.

At present the area is just rough ground and steep slopes but the money will pay for 60 trees, 200 metres of hedging, 12 benches (including four wheelchair accessible ones), native wildflowers, signs and information boards, accessible paths and landscaping works.

Rod said: “It will be a nice, quiet tranquil place to sit and enjoy the canal, and the information boards will encourage people to learn about and help tackle climate change.

“We’re taking that environmental resilience into account with the planting too. Rather than stuff just randomly growing there, we want making it really beneficial to wildlife like butterflies and birds. The water will make a big difference to that already but we want it to be an even better habitat than it was before.”

He added: “Everyone I meet, from local dog-walkers to long distance cyclists, wants us to create proper, well managed, and safe places to go and enjoy nature and meet friends.

“In return for your donations, we volunteers are committed to help manage these new spaces in future years for the free enjoyment of all.”

For details and donations, go to https://tinyurl.com/3curn4nd.

To learn more about the trust’s restoration plans, visit chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/restoration/27087-2/.

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