THE Canal and River Trust is carrying out repair work on the Big Lock footbridge due to a structural failure.

The original traffic regulation notice from Cheshire East Council said that the works would take up to 21 days but the trust has now confirmed that there is not a fixed timescale.

A spokesperson for the Canal and River Trust said: “As a charity, working with finite resources and funding, we endeavour to keep our network open for our visitors as much as we can.

“However, with limited funding, repairs needed are prioritised along with other works within the North West, with health and safety being our paramount concern.

“A design is currently being put together to install a temporary scaffold bridge adjacent to Big Lock Footbridge to get the access open again.

“We will then need to do some investigations to assess the state of the bridge, but we will keep the towpath open during these investigation works.

“We don’t have any fixed timescales yet, but will provide updates when we know more. Please keep an eye on our notices page here; https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices more particularly this notice; https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/.../big-lock-footbridge... for any updates."