Lichfield Branch

with work boats being used to transport the towpath stone to this otherwise hard to access section.

The towpath improvement work is one of a number of projects being delivered as part of the Trent-Sow Parklands and Cannock Chase AONB HS2 Group’s Environmental Enhancement Programme funded by HS2 to deliver landscape and environmental benefits in the Trent Sow area as part of HS2’s Green Corridor programme. I represent IWA on the Trent-Sow Group to help minimise and mitigate the impacts of building HS2 on the canals and through the historic landscape of the Great Haywood area. Although the construction of this part of HS2 has recently been put back by 2 years, the ‘Connecting Towpaths’ project and other Environmental Enhancement projects in the Trent-Sow area are continuing.

The work started in early May, with the towpath closure to pedestrians having been recently extended until late August. One reason given for the delay being the need to raise sections of the path. Some parts of the towpath at Tixall Wide had long ago subsided below water level, with only the piling keeping the water in, and I have been asking CRT since 2013 at several user forums and through the Trent-Sow Group when they would repair this area. We have now been reassured that the areas with low freeboard will be raised to the right level before being resurfaced and the second photo from CRT shows this work in progress.