4. How will the Brimscombe Port redevelopment link to the wider canal regeneration project?

Brimscombe Port is the destination at the eastern end of the Stroudwater Canal. The canal is being restored and a large section from Stonehouse through Stroud has been completed which is showing the amazing and wide-ranging benefits that the canal brings to the area. Stroud District Council and its partners have secured £8.9 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards connecting Stonehouse Ocean to Saul Junction with the Cotswold Canals Connected project which will link the canal to the National Canal network.

More funding will be required to deliver the next stage of the project, but once a new bridge and canal and river crossing are constructed under Brimscombe Hill and the missing length of canal to Stroud Brewery is reinstated the Port will then connect to the national canal network. Completing this penultimate section of canal will also mean that Stroud is one step closer to delivering a hugely important and previously lost heritage asset that provides an excellent national leisure attraction and a unique springboard for regeneration and sustainable economic development throughout the district.

This is an exemplar canal, heritage and biodiversity project, creating post-COVID regeneration, health and wellbeing and bringing economic, tourism and sustainable transport benefits to the whole district and wider area.