of the viability of restoration should be carried out and completed by October. By 1985, the environmental lobby was growing and in order to avert a situation where boaters and environmentalists clashed, the Manpower Services Commission funded a scheme to document the flora and fauna of the unrestored canal. It also included an experimental off-line nature reserve which could provide a habitat for rare or interesting plants and the first such reserve was built at Rednal. The concept was a success and paved the way for other reserves that allowed restoration to proceed, both on the Montgomery Canal and on other canals where there were sensitive environmental concerns. Montgomeryshire County Council committed £1 million to canal restoration over a five-year period as British Waterways submitted a private bill to Parliament to authorise restoration of the whole canal. The restoration also benefited from a legacy of £200,000 left by Humphrey Symonds via the Inland Waterways Association, specifically for the Montgomery Canal. Frankton Locks were reopened on 12 September 1987 by the Prince of Wales when he announced that volunteers had worked for 12,000 man-hours on the project and that the value of this contribution was £200,000. The British Waterways Act 1987 became law on 17 December 1987, and authorised the restoration of the canal from Newtown Pumping Station to Frankton Junction, including the Guilsfield and Weston arms. It formalised the change of name to the Montgomery Canal and the construction and maintenance of nature reserves. It also specified that any refurbished or new sections of the canal, when they were brought into use, would automatically be designated as Remainder Waterways using the classification from the 1968 Act. A second Act was obtained on 29 July 1988 to undo the provisions of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (Canals) Act 1944 which had removed the right of navigation and prohibited such use. The new Act reinstated the right to allow navigation on any sections open at the time the Act was obtained and on any sections subsequently re-opened. British Waterways was succeeded by the Canal & River Trust in 2012. Below Frankton Gallowstree Bridge was opened by David Suchet on 7 June 1992. The canal from Frankton Locks to the River Perry crosses Perry Moor and historically, the bed had no puddling at this point relying instead on the water table of the peat moor to retain the water. Modern agricultural methods