The first phase of £700,000 of towpath improvements in Stone starts on Monday 4th February and will see a section of towpath between Meaford and the Plume of Feathers in Barlaston closed for 1o months.
The Canal and River Trust has issued a towpath closure notice for the period 4th February to 22nd November that will cover the towpath from Mount Road (Meaford Lock Bridge) to the pub in Barlaston.
Towpath repairs, bank protection and resurfacing works will be taking place. The works will require the use of dumpers and excavators in addition to workers operating in width-restricted areas. The Canal and River Trust has asked boaters not to moor alongside this towpath area.
Residents whose properties back on to the canal have been informed by letter. Notices have also been put up on the two public footpaths leading off Station Road in Barlaston and at Downs Banks to inform walkers that the towpath is closed.
The work is the final piece of the jigsaw to link a national cycle path between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent. It forms part of the Trent and Mersey Canal towpath improvement project, a partnership between Stafford Borough Council, the county and the Canal and River Trust.
The work aims to improve the route from Aston to Barlaston and create an open access to the canal path. The cost of the work is more than £700,000, with Staffordshire County Council investing £458,000 into the scheme and the borough council contributing £261,870 to improvements on the whole of the 7.6km stretch. The Canal and River Trust have also contributed in kind.
The route forms part of the 650km-long National Cycle Network Route 5 which connects many towns and cities in England and Wales. It will open access to the Barlaston Downs Banks and improve the area opposite the former Meaford Power Station site.
- Canal and River Trust
- canals
- Stafford Borough Council
- Staffordshire County Council
- towpath
- Trent and Mersey Canal
5 comments
craig
about time i come off here know that stretch well traveled along it daily for 2 years or so,i hit one of them ruts on the way to work and landed in the canal,i had a shower and a bath before 10 o clock in the morning!
marg n saff
It will be cleaner when it is finished, but will the first section from Barlaston to Meaford need to be closed for the whole 10 months? I walked this regularly almost every day, until closure, on a circular walk(as did many others) and hope it may be re-opened before November, when the works are then taking place at the Meaford to Stone section.
CyclingCyril
Brilliant, should open up a lot of employment opportunities re: Stoke to Stone and visa versa, especially with the electric commuter bicycles.
Jon Farnsworth
Brilliant…. That means that there will be a nice path to ride to Harecastle Tunnel and back when its finished..