The Northern Reaches Restoration Group aims to restore the Lancaster Canal to Canal Head, Kendal, and comprises of nine partners - South Lakeland District Council, Cumbria County Council, Kendal Town Council, British Waterways, The Lancaster Canal Trust, The Inland Waterways Association, The Waterways Trust, Lancashire County Council and Lancaster City Council.

This group, chaired by Hal Bagot of Levens Hall and now known as the Lancaster Canal Restoration Partnership (LCRP), continues to pursue the goal of restoring the navigation from Tewitfield to Kendal to unlock its many benefits for leisure, tourism, transport, employment, biodiversity and the local environment.

The project is not without its challenges however. Probably the most obvious are the six major roads that cut the canal's route, namely: the A6070 at Tewitfield, the M6 at Cinderbarrow, Holme and Millness and the A590 twice near Hincaster. While restablishing the waterway at navigable width under or over these roads is not technically challenging, the cost of new bridges, canal realignment and an aqueduct is considerable.

The partnership has therefore decided to split the project into three phases with the first phase being the one and a half miles from the canal head in Kendal to Natland Road. While this may seem counter intuitive, as it is the furthest point from the existing navigable section at Tewitfield, it is driven by the opportunity for the canal basin restoration to be combined with the redevelopment of the canal head area. This is the subject of an Area Action Plan (AAP) orchestrated by South Lakeland District Council and will form part of the emerging Local Development Framework (LDF) for South Lakeland.

Phase two will then address the section from Kendal to Crooklands and finally, phase three, Crooklands to Tewitfield. The line of the canal is already protected in the local development plan to ensure that the route is not further obstructed and that existing heritage is preserved and maintained. In this respect the Lancaster Canal Trust (see separate page on this site) endeavours where possible to keep canal features and structures from deteriorating by regular volunteer work parties that tackle suitable maintenance and restoration activities.

The Lancaster Canal Restoration Partnership has its own website which provides full details of the plans and status of the restoration.