 Despite the Manpower Services Commission funding restoration work under the Job Creation Scheme from 1975, there were plans to sever the route with a low-level crossing by the proposed M66 motorway in 1979, and a supermarket on it at Sowerby Bridge in 1980, both of which were opposed.Progress continued and the eastern section from Sowerby Bridge to the summit at Longlees was open by 1990, although it remained isolated from the canal network, as the connection to the Calder and Hebble Navigation was missing.Following an Ecotec Report into the costs and benefits of completing the restoration in 1991, Derelict Land Grants were identified as a potential source of funding, and a grant of £2.5 million from this source paved the way for the final link to be restored.