WORK to improve highway and canal tow paths in Torfaen will begin later this month.

The improvements will be carried out in areas between Commercial Street and the start of the canal five locks and Bevan’s Lane, Pontnewydd, to the canal crossing between Elm Grove and Richmond Road, Sebastopol.

Contractors will close Fountain Lane to the public for two days because of the narrow path.

The council hopes the improvements will help to encourage more people to cycle and walk in the area. The scheme will see paths resurfaced and new handrails and motorcycle barriers installed using funding by the Valleys Regional Park’s Valleys Cycle Network project.

The council says the work should be finished by mid-July.