Lock 89 on the Rochdale Canal has now been fitted with railings in an attempt to deter members of the public from crossing the canal via the lock gate walkways, following two drownings in the Manchester city centre canal length last year.
When 19-year-old student Charlie Pope drowned after a night out in the popular area of canalside bars, a campaign calling for fencing-off of the city’s waterways led to a petition raising around 100,000 signatures. However boaters and the Canal & River Trust were concerned at the possibility that railings would be installed which would get in the way of safe use of the waterway – and in the meantime temporary barriers were erected to stop revellers from crossing the lock gates instead of a nearby footbridge.
The railings now installed have been designed to direct the public towards the bridge, but still leaving gaps to allow boaters to operate the lock.
