THE Canal and River Trust is working with St Helens Council to remove the "plastic highway" of rubbish in Sankey Canal after startling pictures showed the level of littering.
The awful pictures, showing three swans among litter in the canal at Blackbrook, emerged over the weekend.
The Sankey Canal Restoration Society is leading the clean up on Sunday and it has called on members of the community to come and help.
However, the Canal and River Trust, which owns that patch of canal, have already started with the clean up alongside St Helens Council.
Julia Shelley, area operations manager at Canal & River Trust, said: “It’s really shocking to see all the litter and debris in the canal and the effect it is having on the wildlife.
"The Canal & River Trust installed a boom across the canal a few years ago to protect the young cygnets that were getting trapped in an old set of locks.
"Devastatingly, our canals and rivers are inadvertently acting as ‘plastics highways’, transporting rubbish from where we live out to sea and unfortunately due to the recent heavy rain and storms, litter and debris has gathered at the boom.
"Our team has been out to try and remove some of the debris which has collected but we face a complex issue to safely remove all the litter at the moment due to the fast flow of water.
"The Trust is working with St Helens Council and volunteers to try and clear some more of the debris with further clean-ups planned in the future.”
Haydock councillor Martin Bond, added: “We were shocked to see the photos that residents quite rightly shared online. We’ve urgently organised with our partners in The Canals and Rivers Trust, which owns and manages these waters, to intervene.
“We’re also in conversations with the Sankey Canal Restoration Society, who have very kindly and at short notice arranged a big community clean-up for Sunday, February 23.
"The society does tremendous work alongside our Rangers and Grounds Maintenance teams in caring for Sankey Canal, and has been heavily involved in several major restoration schemes we’ve led over the past few years.
“It’s saddening that such clean-up work needs to be done at all. The vast majority of residents cherish the beautiful green spaces like Sankey Valley that we are lucky to have in St Helens, while the very few choose to litter and pollute them, harming the environment and wildlife.
“The recent storms have aggravated the situation, dredging up more litter. While the waters remain high and fast from increased rainfall, we cannot yet risk a thorough clean-up of the water, but we and our partners are keen to put this right as soon as possible.
“The Canals and Rivers Trust have started the clean-up with specialised tools and will be getting out on the water as soon as the weather and conditions allow, and supporting the community clean-up of the area’s woodland and footpaths this weekend.”
The clean-up will take place on Sunday, February 23 from 10am to 3pm.
Bags, gloves and litter pickers will be provided.
Residents wishing to take part should meet at the Sankey valley Visitor Centre, Blackbrook Road, to the rear of The Ship Inn.
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