Towpath Improvements for Wendover Arm

The towpath on the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal is set to be made more accessible to local people through a £367,000 partnership project led by the Wendover Canal Trust and national waterways and wellbeing charity the Canal & River Trust.

As a result of funding awards from five organisations, the Canal & River Trust is planning to upgrade the towpath throughout the parish of Wendover. The project will dramatically improve the surface of the towpath and make it resistant to flooding, enabling it to be accessible all year round.

The work has been funded by the HS2 Chiltern AONB Review Group, Wendover Parish Council, Lionel Abel-Smith Trust, Wendover Community Board and Halton Parish Council. In total over 28 local, regional, and national organisations supported the campaign to upgrade the towpath, which was led by the Wendover Canal Trust in conjunction with the Canal & River Trust. These included all the schools in Wendover, the Chiltern Society, Chilterns Conservation Board, Inland Waterways Association, Sustrans and Chiltern Railways.

Ros Daniels, Canal & River Trust director for London & South East, said: ‘We are extremely grateful to the funders; their support will enable us to transform this stretch from a muddy path to one that can be enjoyed by all throughout the year. The Wendover and Aylesbury canal towpaths constitute 80% of the Grand Union Canal Triangle and these awards will significantly help us to achieve our aim of a full upgrade by 2025. Research shows that spending time by water improves your mental and physical health. We want to encourage more people to benefit from their local canal and enjoy wellbeing from walking and cycling along the towpath and spending time amongst nature.’

The canal in Wendover forms an important link throughout the community, and the improvements will help the towpath provide a traffic-free, more consistent and accessible network for everyone, including schoolchildren, walkers, cyclists, families and people with mobility requirements.

The project builds on previous small scale towpath improvements undertaken by the two Trusts in Wendover in the past year. Design work is currently being undertaken and the works are being programmed to commence in January 2023 and be completed by March 2023.

Clive Johnson, Chairman, Wendover Canal Trust, said: ‘I’m delighted that we’ve been able to co-ordinate funding to transform this worn-out canal towpath. This will be of great benefit for local people who’ll be able to use it more safely and enjoy the canal.’