Good news for the Trent and Mersey canal in Stoke-on-Trent. The three-miles of canal towpath which run south from the city’s train station is to get a hack-and-chop of the vegetation and some bump-flattening…

“The work will include cutting back overgrown hedges and trees in order open up and improve visibility of the towpaths. [plus] repairs to the towpath where tree roots have cracked or lifted the cobbles [with the work to be] completed by the end of June”.

It seems to be funded by the last dribble of the Levelling Up funds, though no costing for this particular bit of work is given. No mention of renewing seating, though I recall from about 18 months ago that several seats along the way are badly in need of repairs. Though the semi-circle of steel benches on the towpath opposite the Civic Centre should probably be left in their destroyed state, or they’ll once again become a junkie gathering place. That’s the sort of “vibrant space” that the city doesn’t need.

Still, at least the funding is to be spent on practical things and not on more political wall-murals or vanity signage. Hopefully there will also be a bumper litter-pick this spring, on the stretch.

Update: the local Stoke Nub News adds a very important detail, which the BBC missed… “new top dressing will be applied to the whole length” of this three mile stretch. Sounds good, though possibly rather disruptive for bicycle commuters this springtime. Ah yes, here we go, I just found the official notice for Towpath stoppage from Lock 38 at Cliffe Vale to Bridge 106, the Hem Heath Bridge, mainly “for installation of new tar spray and chip surfacing”. No further details on closed sections or precise section-dates. The stoppage notice reveals (apparently) that the resurfacing works will also go north way past the train station, up to Lock 38 (presumably for the cyclist connection-point there across to Newcastle-under-Lyme). That bit’s not reported by either the BBC or Nub News. In fact, if one looks at the stoppage map, the resurfacing may even go on as far north as Festival Park.

The main southern stretch to be tackled runs from the train station down to the Stoke City F.C. football stadium and then the workers will down tools at Hem Heath. After which the canal towpath gets remarkably dull, if memory serves me. If walking south from Hem Heath, from there it’s better to cut across country through the Hem Heath woods and around the back of Wedgwood (note there’s a cafe at the Visitor Centre, or was last time I looked) to reach Barlaston. From there over the Downs Banks (National Trust), through some lanes, and then across the Common Plot and down into the town of Stone (to get the train back to Stoke). Not as flat as the canal-towpath, and definitely not something for cyclists to try, but far more varied and interesting.