The Stroud MP's weekly column.

Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie is supporting a £9 million lottery bid to fund the restoration and connection of two local canals to the national network.

The Cotswold Canals Connected Project is looking for the money to link the Stroudwater Navigation with the Gloucester and Sharpness canal at Saul Junction. The move to reinstate the missing mile would see the waterways again part of the 2500-mile inland network in what would be a boost to local tourism and regeneration.

In a letter to the National Lottery Heritage Fund she wrote before her maternity leave, Siobhan said: “Completion of the project will make Stroud and Stonehouse canal towns once again and will encourage the creation of sustainable business and local employment.

“It will provide a wide range of educational and recreational activities for people of all ages and help volunteers and employees to gain valuable skills.

“This project is also important on a national scale in that it is an exemplar for restoring canals around the country to active use, aiding local regeneration along the way.”

“I believed in the great benefit of this project before Covid-19. I now believe the project is in the position to offer our diverse community a positive recovery route out of the current health and economic crisis.” She added: “I have a great deal of admiration for the canal project, both in terms of the tremendous volunteer commitment and its impact on the local district.

“Now is the time to build on what has already been achieved and enable the project to realise its full potential by connecting into the 2500-mile national inland waterways network.”

Stroud District Council received funding of £842,800 for the project in April 2018.

A decision on the latest funding bid for £8,956,200 is due in the autumn.