A HUGE restoration project to complete the Stroudwater Navigation canal from Stonehouse to Saul is back on the cards.

The Cotswolds Canal Trust has agreed to submit a fresh bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HFL) to complete the final four miles of the canal.

The renewed efforts come after a similar application for £15 million from the fund was rejected last May.

But now the trustees at the Cotswold Canals Trust’s (CCT) have formally agreed to make a renewed bid this November.

The aim of the project is to complete the Stroudwater Navigation Canal and open it up with a crucial link to the Gloucester Sharpness Canal.

The restoration will include building a new railway bridge, channeling under the M5 and digging a mile of new canal.

Stroud District Council (SDC) has almost completed a six mile section between Stonehouse and Brimscombe Port, but the waterway is ‘landlocked’.

It is part of an ongoing project that aims to restore the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal, to link the River Severn with the River Thames.

This renewed impetus follows an informal meeting with the Heritage Lottery Fund’s grant officers.

Val Kirby, who is leading the project, said: “The HLF recognised the need to follow on from the existing restoration which they had already helped to fund, and appreciated the broad-based support that the project has received from local communities.

“They acknowledged that it was a good bid, but failed only in the context of strong national competition.”

Dr Kirby explained that the Trust understood the project would have a greater chance of success if the size of the bid could be reduced.

This would mean securing additional financial commitments from other sources.

In response to concerns from the HLF that included unresolved planning approvals and land ownership issues, the team has discussed a number of practical steps that could be taken before the bid is resubmitted.

In addition, part of the stretch known as the ‘missing mile’ at Eastington lies within the area covered in the current planning application to Stroud District Council by Ecotricity for a new Eco-Park.

If the application granted by planners, the trust are hoping it could lead to more funding.

Meanwhile, a report from the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has highlighted the huge benefits the restoration would bring to the area’s environment.

It found that the project would create the largest increase of wildlife from any development in the UK.

The report, following a preliminary habitat survey along the route of the Stroudwater Navigation, outlines the national importance of the Severn Vale landscape with its mix of reedbeds, orchards, floodplain, grazing, marsh and hedgerows.

The Trust’s head of Land Management, Adam Taylor, said it would bring huge benefits to the area.

He said: “In addition to individual elements which benefit wildlife, local communities and the local economy, visitors will be able to travel along this restored ‘green and blue’ corridor discovering the Severn Vale’s rich heritage."