Over the winter of 2011/2012, less that 11 years after Sellers Tunnel in Huddersfield, the tunnel was opened up and the canal brought back to the surface. This happened after Sellers Engineering moved to a new site and enabled the canal to become a feature of the new Huddersfield Waterfront development.

A replacement for the original Lock 3E had been built upstream (west) of Sellers Engineering in 2001 so that the canal could run in the tunnel below the site. In order to bring the canal back to the surface, the canal now runs straight through this lock on a level. A newer Lock 2E has been built towards the east of the site, close to the location of the original lock alongside Chapel Hill.

View of the canal route through the former Sellers site taken on 19th November 2011 from Chapel Hill. St Thomas's church in the distance stands just above Manchester Road. A section of canal tunnel with the lid removed is visible behind the foreground site fencing and to the left of the church.

The completed channel will be one narrowboat width with a passing place above the new Lock 3E which will be situated in the immediate foreground. The massive structure of the Kirklees College building is taking shape on the right hand side.

The finished channel, upstream of the new Lock, also incorporates a passing place and the towpath East of Longroyd Bridge is no longer a dead end.

Kirklees Metropolitan Council Commercial Manager, Paul Kemp, ready to cut the ribbon and officially open the new Lock 3E in the company of BW's David Baldacchino (left) and our Chairman, Alan Stopher (right).