A £500,000 dredging project on the Shropshire Union Canal should inject new life into Nantwich's tourism industry - and herald a brighter future for wildlife.

British Waterways is behind the operation, which will concentrate of the area either side of Barbridge Junction and is expected to last until Spring 2006.

Work has been scheduled for the waterway and mooring sites, from Calveley to Henhull, during the canal's "off-season", to minimise the impact on visitors.

The dredging should open up more mooring sites for canal boat enthusiasts - currently some are too shallow to be used

Boat turning areas, known as winding holes, will be another focus, to ensure that they are fully cleared.

Dredgings will be used to strengthen the surface of towpaths, increase drainage an stabilise the canal banks.

Pre-planted coir rolls will enhance and increase the offside vegetation fringe, with plain coir rolls being used to support dredged vegetation.

Stuart Moodie, British Waterways ecologist, said the pre-planted rolls - made of coconut fibre - will encourage the spread of some of the rarer plants that are found on the canal, such as flowering rush.

He added: "We will also put in rolls that haven't been planted so that we can re-use some of the vegetation that we are dredging from parts of the canal where there is, at present, too much.

"These will provide great homes for endangered wildlife such as water voles and dragonflies."

nantwich@guardiangrp.co.uk