It's a masterclass in how practically any country is better for start-ups associated with locomotion than the one that invented the locomotive. My advice to anyone trying to do anything new here remains: to succeed in the UK, go to the US.
The earliest canals were built in China, though as precursor to an industrial revolution that began largely in Lancashire they enjoyed most commercial success hereabouts.
They don't go up hills though, and locks that allow boats to step up or down gradients require the re-supply of water... Carr Mill Dam was one such source.
Only tidal stretches of water are freely navigable in the UK, the Canal and River trust largely accountable for delegating use of inland waters. Key to access however is the ownership, and the land around Carr Mill appears to be owned by a company that is in process of liquidation and whose liquidators fail to return queries.
As indeed does the Lancashire Powerboat Racing Club, who along with the sailing club to which the Canal and Riverboat Trust refer me ~ beside the St Helens Angling assoc ~ appear to have remit to use the water, beside the land and buildings nearby.
The danger is in all of this is that instead of spending your time building boats, you're involved in an internecine struggle that Kafka would himself struggle to do justice to.
