£2m pumped in canal towpaths for commuters
COMMUTERS between Slaithwaite and Huddersfield will soon be able to travel via a quieter route – the towpath of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.
Almost £2m is being pumped into improving canalside paths in West Yorkshire with a view to supporting walkers, cyclists, people with pushchairs and those who use mobility aids such as wheelchairs or scooters.
The upgrade in Kirklees aims to create ‘a much more usable towpath’ from Slaithwaite into the centre of Huddersfield, providing an off-road, traffic-free alternative to the busy main road running five miles through the valley.
The long-term aim would be to upgrade and improve the towpath all the way to Standedge Tunnel in Marsden, a further 2.7 miles.
The work is being carried out by the waterways charity Canal & River Trust with money secured by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), a group of leading councillors and officers from West Yorkshire councils, plus York, that works on major infrastructure projects.
Work is expected to begin in the spring of 2021. Enhancements will include laying a new towpath surface and improving access by changing the angle of slopes near locks to make them less steep, and lifting and re-laying cobbles to make them smoother.
Work will take place on two sections – between the Britannia Road Bridge, Slaithwaite, and the bridge on Low Westwood Lane, and then from Low Westwood Lane to Library Lock in Milnsbridge.
The cost of all the improvements across the county is £1.86m, with money coming from WYCA’s CityConnect programme.
The Canal & River Trust will deliver the Huddersfield element of the project in partnership with Kirklees Council.
Other improvements are taking place on the Airedale Greenway section of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
Clr Martyn Bolt (Con, Mirfield), a keen cyclist and an advocate for active travel on the region’s greenway system, said the new plans did not reveal a strategy on how to link the sections of existing cycle route/ greenway.
He asked: “Can canal towpaths cater for the volume and mix of users? And is the route accessible or is it an end-to-end journey only as the section from Huddersfield to Milnsbridge is?”
Begun in 1794 and completed in 1811, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal runs for 20 miles from ‘Lock 1E’ (now the site of Huddersfield University’s Canalside Buildings) to Ashton-under-Lyne, through 74 locks.
It includes the Standedge Tunnel, which, at three miles long, is Britain’s longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel.