A plan has been floated to transform the Leeds-Liverpool Canal into a major tourist destination attracting thousands more visitors each year.

British Waterways has put forward the proposals for the stretch of canal between Bingley and Shipley in the hope of boosting tourism and the economy in the Aire Valley.

The Bingley Three Rise Lock Cottage will be re-built if a £250,000 heritage lottery bid is successful, to provide a visitor centre telling the 130-year history of the locks and that of the famous Five Rise Locks.

A waterbus which ran along the canal until 2001 may also be brought back to ferry passengers between Shipley Wharf and the Three Rise Locks, and a heritage centre could be built in Shipley.

A spokesman for British Waterways said the plan was to turn the Leeds-Liverpool Canal into a “leisure, recreation and tourism” hot spot over the next three years.

Private developers such as the company behind the canal-side Victoria Mills scheme will be asked to contribute to the cost of improved tow paths and signs to make access to the canal easier from Shipley, Saltaire and Bingley.

Salts Sports Association, whose grounds border the canal at Saltaire, would also be given funds to provide a car and coach park for tourists.

An application for lottery funding to pay for the reconstruction of the Three Rise Locks cottage, which was built in 1850 and stood for a century next to the canal, will be submitted in December next year.

Graham Ramsden, regeneration manager for British Waterways Yorkshire, said: “We are keen to promote and develop the waterway network as a leisure, recreation and tourism resource. The development of destinations is an important part of this process.

“A destination is a ‘hotspot’ on the network which can or does draw visitors and which has a heritage, environmental, leisure or tourism potential. “The aim is to raise the quality of the visitor experience and then keep it at this higher level thereafter. The section of the Leeds-Liverpool canal between Shipley and Bingley is proposed as a waterway destination.”

Bradford Council, the Airedale Partnership and the Inland Waterways Association, along with other local organisations have been involved in discussions about the project for the past few months.

Coun. Anne Hawkesworth, Bradford Council’s executive member for environment and culture, backed the plans.

She said: “It is all exciting stuff. We are moving this scheme in a positive direction and that will be good for tourism and show people that the Aire Valley is a fantastic place.”

Shipley Councillor, Martin Love (Green) said: “We are all for it. The area is becoming an ever more popular holiday destination and the Leeds-Liverpool canal is one of the most interesting in the country.

“When you go through Saltaire and into the Aire Valley, some of the countryside you see is fantastic. I think it could bring a lot more people in.”

The major project could also spur on pub company Punch Taverns to reopen Saltaire’s Boat House pub, which has been a target for vandals and arsonists since it shut, said Coun Love.

He said: “It would be good if this gives them a bit of impetus to get it open again.”

The draft plan is open to public consultation throughout September and copies of the plan and proposals maps are on show at Shipley and Bingley Town Halls.

Any comments should be received by September 30.

e-mail: marc.meneaud @telegraphandargus.co.uk