Act 1888, but was told that they would not sanction an inspection of the canal, because the company had intimated that they were preparing to restore the waterway. In 1956 a local committee was formed to campaign for restoration. By 1961, Derby Council were actively promoting the infilling of the canal, and so the Inland Waterways Association together with the Derby Canal Restoration Committee wrote to the Derby Evening Telegraph, calling for the canal's restoration. Although the council refused to comment, the letter, which was published on 1 February 1961, caused considerable local debate, and a protest cruise was organised on the Erewash Canal, with the Derby Canal entrance lock as the destination. The Times national newspaper carried details of the event, and a subsequent meeting held on 27 May called for a public enquiry into how best to restore the canal for commercial and amenity use. Despite the campaigns, the company obtained a warrant to abandon the whole canal in 1964. With the changed economic climate of the 1990s and the success of other restoration schemes, a feasibility study was carried out in 1994. It included detailed plans for restoration, and concluded that the cost for reinstating the main line would be £17.3 million. To make progress, a company called the Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust was formed, with volunteer input managed by the Derby and Sandiacre Canal Society. In early 1996, construction of the Derby Bypass threatened to sever the line at Swarkestone, although the Department of Transport suggested that a navigable culvert could be provided if the Canal Society paid for it. In 2000, Derby Council assisted the canal trust in applying for a £3.2 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to create a linear park by restoring the canal from Spondon to Sandiacre, while the canal was identified as one of several projects which British Waterways thought they could assist, at its annual general meeting held in 2001. By mid-2003, the canal trust has succeeded in getting the whole route of the canal protected by inclusion in the local council structure plans. By this time, the estimated cost of restoration had risen to £34 million, but they launched a major initiative to raise the funding over a 10-year period. Grants from the Derbyshire City Partnership received from 2008 enabled the Trust Development Group to begin the process of applying for outline planning permission for reinstatement.