Work starts on new canal gateway park
Work to create a new gateway to the soon-to-be-restored Droitwich Canals at Hanbury Lock is well underway.
School children in the town have already spent several sessions working with a professional artist to determine what the new play-space at the Droitwich Canals Gateway Park will look like. Now these ideas are to be turned into reality with the start of construction work. Kim Chester, Development Manager for The Waterways Trust, said: “Ground work has started on the site and the artistic structures that will tell the story of the area are currently being designed and created. “As part of the project, new ponds are being formed adjacent to the canal to provide wildlife habitats and the new access road to Droitwich Rugby Club has just been surfaced. A new towpath up to the Locks has also been created, linking the site to the Worcester & Birmingham Canal Junction.” The Waterways Trust received £20,000 from local funder, Welcome to our Future, and £41,000 from Biffaward, a multi-million pound environment fund managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT), which utilises landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services for this element of the Droitwich canals restoration project. Kim continued: “The restoration of the Droitwich Canals will have something for everyone – a place to walk, boat, relax, fish or cycle. There is already a pushchair-friendly route from Astwood on the Birmingham & Worcester Canal, to Hanbury Wharf, the new towpath will extend this route into Droitwich encouraging even more people to make use of the restored canals and visit the town.” While major engineering work at the site is now complete, there is still on-going work to develop the ‘gateway’. The park will open to the public later in the summer. The restoration of the Droitwich Canals will see the creation of a 21-mile linear park and canal loop, establishing new wildlife habitats and preserving 40 heritage structures. Once complete it will generate over 320,000 new visits to the area within five years with an additional spend of £2.75m per year in the local economy.
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