He said restoration of Gennets Bridge Lock would allow canal boats to travel north from the Loxwood Canal Centre in West Sussex up to the Surrey border for the first time since the canal was abandoned in the late 19th Century.
Despite the anticipated cost, the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust is hoping for Heritage Lottery Funding to reconnect the lock to the stretch of canal already dredged and re-watered to the south.
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The key was not to try to dig a Suez-type of canal, a great sea-level trench from ocean to ocean, but to create a lock-and-lake canal, where the ships are lifted up by a series of locks to a man-made lake, and then they sail across that lake, and then they are set back down on the other side by another series of locks.
Created by Leeds City Council's parks and countryside service, the garden features two 12ft (3.6m) high lock gates and a mock canal.
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The replacement fish are being driven up from part of the Kennet and Avon Canal, while lock repairs are being carried out on the Bath Flight.
The trust added that high levels of fish live at Caen Hill lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal, so management is required to keep an ecological balance.
They were found near the Wolverley Court Lock, on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal in Kidderminster, at about 18:20 GMT on Tuesday.
Imie Harrison was found near Wolverley Court Lock, on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal in Kidderminster, at about 18:20 GMT on Tuesday.
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An extension of the Forth and Clyde Canal is also being built, along with a new sea lock on the River Carron.
Volunteers restoring a canal that runs though Surrey and West Sussex are hoping to start work on another lock.
Now work on Southland lock is nearly completed, the next step will be to clear and restore the section of canal linking it to Loxwood.
The canal at Loxwood had to be lowered by 6ft (1.8m) and a new lock and road bridge built.
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