Members made a survey of the Ashton Canal during the winter of 1959/60, and began inspecting the Peak Forest Canal in February 1960. This included an assessment of Bugsworth Basin, at the terminus of the canal. Together with an inspection of the Caldon Canal, this work enabled them to present reports on all three canals to IWRAC, which included detailed assessments of ways in which they might be restored both economically and successfully. A forward-looking report for a new canal route between Leeds and London, which would include parts of the Dearne and Dove Canal and the Chesterfield Canal, was presented to the IWRAC on 7 April 1960, and another protest cruise was held on the Chesterfield Canal on 30 April 1960. Despite the work of the society, and recommendations by the IWRAC that they should be retained, the British Transport Commission announced to Parliament in November 1961 that the Chesterfield Canal, the upper Erewash Canal, the Buckingham Branch and the Dudley Canal and Dudley Tunnel would be closed. Both the IWPS and the Inland Waterways Association protested. Ernest Marples, the minister of transport, stated that "the canals are not viable in their present form," and that a proposed authority to oversee them "may well involve the closure of canals and their conversion or disposal if, thereby, the burden on the tax payer can be relieved." As the threats to the network persisted, the initial campaigning by the IWPS was in many cases assisted by local societies representing individual waterways. Thus the Retford and Worksop Boat Club was formed in February 1962 to campaign for the Chesterfield Canal, and the Marple Residents Association worked to get Marple aqueduct repaired and the Peak Forest Canal reopened,