CaRT backs down over towpath and moorings closure

Published: Thursday, 08 July 2021

THE Canal & River Trust has backed down over closing Market Drayton towpath and moorings.

The council complained that closing the towpath and moorings in the summer for so long whilst upgrading the towpath would damage its tourist trade, so the trust has backed down and shortened the time the work will take.

Decimate tourist trade

The trust is resurfacing the towpath throughout the town from Victoria Bridge to the Market Drayton aqueduct, and the work was initially scheduled to last for over two months in the summer from 5th July to 10th September, that the council complained would decimate its tourist trade.

At the same time the visitor mooring would have been fully closed, meaning there would be no access to the town by boaters whatsoever.

'Supervised access'

The trust have now shortened the closure to run from 12th July to the 3rd September and have agreed that there will be 'supervised access' to visitor moorings, and overnight mooring will be permitted.