The Canal & River Trust has confirmed that the Llangollen Canal is expected to reopen in March 2027, as work continues to rebuild the embankment following the major breach near Whitchurch in December 2025.
The Canal & River Trust has announced an anticipated reopening date for the Llangollen Canal, with the historic waterway expected to welcome boats again in March 2027.
The announcement follows the major embankment breach near Whitchurch in December 2025, which resulted in a substantial engineering operation to make the site safe and develop a long-term repair solution.
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The trust has now completed ground investigations, engineering surveys and detailed design work, and is well advanced with rebuilding the damaged embankment.
Millions invested in the recovery operation
Since the breach occurred, the Canal & River Trust has invested several million pounds in responding to the incident.
The work has included making the site safe, carrying out extensive investigations and developing the engineering solution required to rebuild the canal.
One of the major challenges has been maintaining the water supply around the damaged section.
Throughout the recovery operation, the trust has continued to maintain the flow of approximately 40 million litres of water every day around the breach site.
Modern engineering to strengthen historic canal
The next phase of construction will see the collapsed embankment and canal channel rebuilt using modern engineering techniques that were not available when the canal was originally constructed more than 200 years ago.
The reconstructed embankment will incorporate reinforced layers designed to improve its long-term strength and resilience.
These improvements are intended to help protect the historic waterway against increasingly extreme weather conditions and the effects of climate change.
March 2027 reopening anticipated
With investigations and design work completed and the embankment rebuild well advanced, the Canal & River Trust is now working towards reopening the Llangollen Canal in March 2027.
The anticipated reopening represents an important milestone in the recovery of one of Britain’s historic waterways, although the date remains an expectation rather than a confirmed reopening day.
The continuing reconstruction work aims not only to restore the canal following the December 2025 breach, but also to improve the embankment’s resilience for the future.
