One of the key promoters for a canal was Richard Prat, who was a lawyer in Glastonbury, had been the town clerk since 1813, and held several important offices in the town. He saw the canal as a way to halt the economic downturn in the town and its drainage problems, and called a meeting in August 1825, at which a firm plan was formulated. Richard Hammett, a local man from Street, was commissioned to conduct a survey of the route in 1826. Hammett had experience of building a manure canal through peat heathland. He considered two main routes; the first followed the course of the River Brue, but was rejected on the grounds of engineering costs, and the interference with its drainage function. The second route followed the South Drain, which had been newly constructed following floods in 1794, to connect with the River Brue near Cripps Bridge, and to re-use the old course of that River at Highbridge to create a basin.