A CANAL at risk of running dry isn’t a council’s responsibility a top councillor has said – but it will support calls to preserve it.

A ‘stop gap’ arrangement to ensure water will continue flowing through the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal was reached at the beginning of April following weeks of speculation over its future due to uncertainty around its traditional supply from the river Usk.

The deal agreed between the Canal and River Trust in Wales and Welsh Water has ensured water will be provided but the BBC has reported it could cost the government established charity up to £100,000 a week.

Mark Evans, regional director for the trust also known in Wales as Glandwr Cymru, said a longer term solution is still required: “Our charity is uncertain how long this stop-gap measure can last, it depends on rainfall and other factors, but it will help secure the canal for the coming weeks.”

Councillors in Monmouthshire, which a large stretch of the 35 mile navigable section from Brecon to Cwmbran runs through, agreed its leader Mary Ann Brocklesby should organise a meeting with key stakeholders to discuss a solution.

Before councillors discussed the canal Joseph Taplin, who is a resident and private boat owner, had used a public question slot to ask if the council would undertake a full assessment of the social, environmental and economic impact of the loss of the canal that attracts more than four million visitors annually and estimated as worth £26 million to the local economy.

But Councillor Sara Burch, the council’s Labour cabinet member responsible for tourism and the countryside, explained while it carries out such assessments before it makes a decision said: “It isn’t a decision for the council to make. It is not our canal or our water.”

She said those decisions would fall to the Canal and River Trust, Welsh Water and environmental regulator Natural Resources Wales.

When councillors debated the motion, which Labour cabinet members said they would support, Cllr Burch was criticised by Cllr Simon Howarth.

The independent member for Llanelly Hill said he wasn’t pleased with the cabinet member’s response: “That was poor I think we have a duty and a responsibility to the canal.”

He said he was “ashamed we in Wales don’t look after our heritage” and also highlighted that charities use it for fundraising events while he said if it isn’t looked after it could pose a risk.

“If the canal ever closes it will crack, it will deteriorate and the village I come from Gilwern, will flood,” warned Cllr Howarth.

The motion was put to the council by Conservative member for Goytre Fawr, Jan Butler, who is also behind a petition calling for the canal to be preserved that attracted the 10,000 signatures needed for it to be debated in the Senedd in just 10 days. It has now passed 12,600 signatures.

Cllr Butler said while Natural Resources Wales, using a new licensing regime to protect the environmentally important river Usk, has limited the amount of water that can be diverted to the canal it should also consider the importance of the canal to nature and wildlife.

She said she “can’t get an answer” to whether the canal and the Usk “represent one eco system”.

Cllr Butler said: “A canal that is allowed to run dry is a sad sight to see and very difficult to restore.”

During the debate Cllr Burch said the temporary agreement would give certainty to people booking holidays this summer and described herself as a “canal geek” and that the survival of the 225-year-old waterway is “not only a tribute to the women, men and children who built it but the tenacity of volunteers who rescued it after closure in 1964″.

But she repeated the position it “isn’t the council’s problem to solve” though said it would stand up for those impacted though a solution would likely require intervention from the Welsh Government.

Council leader Mary Ann Brocklesby said she has already questioned Welsh Government ministers about the canal and also held talks with council leaders from Powys, Torfaen and Newport.

The Llanelly Hill councillor also noted the Usk has to be protected.

Torfaen council’s cabinet member for the economy Cllr Joanne Gauden told its April meeting she and council leader Anthony Hunt have written to deputy first minister Huw Irranca-Davies with their concerns and asking for him to arrange a meeting to find a “long term, sustainable solution”.