The existing towpath was badly eroded and required reconstruction in order to enable improved access for pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists.

Funding was provided from Denbighshire Council through a TAITH regional transport plan grant from the Welsh Assembly Government and the scheme was developed working closely with Sustrans (the National Cycle Network), and British Waterways acting as overall Client coordinator.  

As the site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is currently one of 28 UK World Heritage status sites, utmost care was required in order to prevent damage to any part of the site and surrounding structures. The programme included hard surface, edgings, fencing and soft landscaping.

Work was completed without closure of the towpath at any time and has now enabled a significant increase in accessibility for both local and tourist visitors.

Land & Water were contracted by British Waterways to ensure all winding holes on the Grand Union Leicester Line and Oxford canals were maintained to current safety standards.

These winding holes had silted up over time and so a dredging operation was carried out using Land & Water’s specialist narrow beam dredging equipment.

Bank erosion had also occurred over time and this was repaired using value engineering methods which were able to re-use ALL of the dredged silts. Land & Water used ‘Nicospan’, a geotextile liner which was anchored using FSC 6-8ft lengths of 400mm round, treated timber posts. The bank was re-constructed by installing woven geotextile into which sediments from the canal were placed.

These canal banks were then left to vegetate naturally binding and stabilising over time to give a long lasting, aesthetic and environmental result.