Still waiting for Riddlesden canal wall repairs (From Keighley News)

Still waiting for Riddlesden canal wall repairs

7:00am Monday 25th February 2013 in News

A Riddlesden resident is still waiting for vital repair work to start after part of a canal embankment retaining wall collapsed sending rubble into his back yard.

Rocks and soil from the stone wall crashed into the yard on January 29, flattening patio furniture and a washing line, wrecking a fence and narrowly missing the back of Jez and Julie Dowthwaite’s Grange Crescent house. No one was in the yard at the time.

The house backs onto the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

And Mr Dowthwaite, 47, said the same wall was rebuilt about six years ago after becoming unstable.

Engineers from the Canal & River Trust have been out to assess the site, and two workers have carried out some tidying up.

The affected area has been cordoned off to ensure people walking along the towpath at the top of the embankment do not get too close.

But Mr Dowthwaite said he still had no idea when the actual repairs would start, adding he and his next door neighbour are still currently unable to use their back yards.

“The engineers said they may need to put piles in,” he said. “They said the job wouldn’t happen overnight so I shouldn’t hold my breath. There isn’t a lot I can do about it.”

A Canal & River Trust spokesman said he could not confirm a date for repair work to start until engineers had determined how the wall should be rebuilt.

“Our workers are keeping an eye on this and keeping the householder informed until they decide what the best engineering solution is to fix it,” he added.