Canal enthusiasts are waiting for the results of a vital feasibility study which could decide whether boats will again travel between the Thames and Severn rivers.

The study, which is now being finalised, is being carried out by British Waterways and The Waterways Trust.

Supporters of the scheme are hopeful that providing money is available the project can go ahead, allowing a waterway to re-open from the River Thames at Inglesham.

"Our intention is to produce a plan to re-open this route which will drive forward fundraising plans and give the project new impetus," said British Waterways spokesman Eugene Baston.

"We want to find out how this can be achieved and are confident it can go ahead."

The hope is that the 37-mile long stretch of waterway which includes the old Thames and Severn canal and the shorter Stroudwater Navigation can be returned to its former state when a waterway passenger service operated between Gloucester and London.

It is also hoped to join up the Thames and Severn with the North Wilts Canal opening up a route from Swindon and Cricklade to the Thames at Inglesham.

But at the moment everything hangs on the feasibility study confirming that there is a way forward and that finance can be found . The study will be published before Christ-mas.

Canal enthusiasts know that not everyone agrees with them.

Just three months ago local groups CONCEPT (Canal Owners and Neighbours Conservation and Environment Protection Trust) and the Upper Thames Protection Society poured cold water on the plan.

Their own study said that while there could possibly be an economic return on work carried out on the Stroud section the remainder of the canal through to Lechlade would never pay for itself.

Mr Baston said: "A project like this can only be built on partnership and compromises have to be found."