The project included footpaths, cycle tracks and a sculpture trail, to attract visitors other than boaters to visit it, and to generate economic returns for the local community.

[6] In 1982 the Lancaster Boat Club organised a cruise from Rufford Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal up the Ribble to Preston Docks to generate publicity for the scheme.

[7] The cruise demonstrated that canal boats could navigate on this section of tidal water without difficulty, and the Ribble Link Trust was set up in 1984 to push the idea frowards.

[8] However, delays to the start of the project meant that costs kept escalating, without an equivalent increase in funding, and constructing a route that ran alongside Tom Benson Way was a cheaper option.

[22] Just prior to work starting, the Ribble Link Construction and Operation company was handed over to the Waterways Trust, and all the original directors resigned.

[33] Prolonged heavy rain in late August resulted in extensive flooding, causing significant damage to the newly built banks, which were washed into the channel.

[34] Near the top of the navigation, a footpath had once passed beneath the railway line, but the tunnel had been closed when the Tom Benson road was built.

In order to reconnect the path, a steel walkway was attached to the side of the railway arch through which boats pass, for which permission had to be obtained from British Rail.

This involved pumping the silt over the sea lock gate when the tide was going out so that it was carried into the Ribble, and following completion of the work, the link was re-opened on 6 April 2007.

[45] The Millennium Ribble Link follows a course to the north and west of the city of Preston along a canalisation of the Savick Brook, which is tidal along its lower reaches.

The entrance to the Savick Brook is controlled by a green light, signifying that it is safe to proceed along the link to the rotating sea lock.

[46] The Canal and River Trust will only accept bookings for days when the tide is between 28 and 31 feet (8.6 and 9.6 m), when wind speeds are below 4 or 5 on the Beaufort scale and when visibility is good.

Because the Ribble is tidal, boats making the crossing are required to carry extra safety equipment, over and above that which is necessary for cruising on inland waterways.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station at Lytham St Annes received five callouts in a two-month period in 2009.

The length is not based on the size of the locks, which are 72 feet (22 m) long, but the difficulty of navigating some of the bends in a longer boat, in view of the restricted channel width.

Most vessels that use the Ribble Link travel along the Rufford Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and the locks on that section can only accommodate 62-foot (19 m) boats.

[55] The Millennium Ribble Link was Great Britain's first inland waterway to be constructed in nearly 100 years when it was opened in July 2002, and was the first to be built for leisure purposes only, rather than for commercial use.

This leads to a three-lock staircase, which is operated by Canal and River Trust staff, and so boaters must wait in the basin until instructed to proceed.

[58] To reach the basin, the brook has passed through an aqueduct carrying the Lancaster Canal, which was constructed in 1797 by John Rennie,[62] and then flowed through the grade II listed Haslem Park.

This was opened in 1910, and was a gift to the people of Preston by Mary Haslem, in memory of her father John, who owned a local cotton mill.

[63] The link passes under the B6241 Tom Benson Way, immediately followed by a bridge carrying the Blackpool South branch line from Preston to Salwick, before it reaches the first of the boater-operated locks.

[58] The sculpture 'Fire' by Dagnall, a large block of stone polished with graphite to make it look like coal and engraved with a fossilised fern on the top, is close to the lock.

To the north of this section is a quiet public park, while to the south is the 'hay meadow', part of the Ribble Link Development, identified as being of 'national significance'.

[64] The Ribble Link continues under Leyland Bridge, which carries Lea Road, and then enters a flood plain, with housing to the south and agricultural fields to the north.

Beyond this is Lock 6 and its weir, where a sculpture representing 'Earth' consists of reclaimed gritstone slabs set into the towpath, with large footprints carved into them.

[64] Tudor Avenue bridge provides access to New House Farm and the Ashton and Lea Golf Club, both of which are on the north bank of the brook.

A footbridge carries a public footpath over the brook before it reaches Lock 7 with its weir, again feeding surplus water around the north side of the structure.

There is a pumping station on the left bank operated by British Nuclear Fuels,[17] followed by a copse of semi-ancient woodland and a Biological Heritage Site reedbed at Savick Bridge, which carries the main A583 road.

The sea lock is a short distance below the bridge, and the brook continues to the west of Lea Marsh, until it reaches the River Ribble.

[66] Research carried out in 2006 looked at the effects of radioactive discharges from the Springfields site on those working, living or finding recreation in the locality.