Daventry Country Park improvements to take place over next 12 weeks

Contractors working on behalf of Daventry District Council will restore sections of damaged footpath totalling around 2km in a 12-week project which starts next week.

They will be resurfaced with Breedon gravel, which is suitable for wheelchairs, walking frames and mobility scooters.

The work means that sections of path will have to be closed off to allow work to take place, meaning visitors will be unable to complete a full circuit of the park’s circular reservoir walk.

Work will begin on the western side of the park this coming Monday (July 27), when the footpath will be closed from the end of the Marsh Walkway down to the southern entrance near the iCon building. This phase of work is expected to take around five to six weeks to complete.

The work is being carried out as part of a wider £850,000 improvement project at Daventry Country Park. A new adventure playground opened in spring 2019, while improvements to the Marsh Walkway and bridges on the western side of the park were completed earlier this year.

A new-look café with an indoor seating area is set to open this summer, as are the park’s new toilet facilities. There are also plans to replace the pier near the café and install a new jetty on the other side of Lovell’s Bay, to help facilitate watersports.

Councillor Alan Hills, the district council’s portfolio holder for community, culture and leisure, said: “We have always strived to keep the park as natural as possible, but we know this can make it tricky for some people to navigate – particularly in the winter months when paths can be slippy.

“The new gravel will offer the best of both worlds – giving the paths a natural look while improving the surface for all our visitors to use.

“We had hoped to make these improvements earlier in the year, but our plans were delayed by Covid-19. While we recognise that carrying out this work in the summer months may cause additional disruption to visitors, we hope everyone will agree it will be worth it for the enormous benefits the new surface will offer to all future users of our wonderful Country Park.”

Signs advising visitors of closures will be put up around the park and displayed outside the Reservoir Café. People will also be able to keep up with the programme and find out which section of path is currently closed by visiting www.daventrydc.gov.uk/leisure/daventry-country-park/improvements/