Canal arrives two hundred years late

The construction of a link between the Lancaster Canal and the River Ribble started on Thursday. First authorised by an act of Parliament in 1792, the four-mile cut will be called the Millennium Ribble Link. To be completed in autumn 2001 it will be the first canal built in the UK for a hundred years.
The second phase costing £30 million will complete the restoration of the Lancaster Canal, severed by the building of the M6 motorway. This will open up the intriguing possibility of travelling from London to the Lake District via the inland waterways by pleasure boat.