The £150,000 City Council project to transform Sutton Stop, the main route to Hawkesbury Junction, is now complete and has a whole new look.

In just 13 weeks the road has been completely re-laid – considerably improving the condition of the road for drivers, new look parking bays are in place, the trees and shrub have been cut back and new lighting columns have been installed.

Longford Ward Councillor and Chair of the planning Policy Team Sheila Collins said,

"Gone are the pot holes, makeshift parking places, overgrown bushes and poor lighting. It is a transformed area that will help us to promote visitor and tourist access onto the canal at Hawkesbury Junction. The finished result has really enhanced Sutton Stop and we believe work like this helps to regenerate local areas and make very real differences to peoples quality of life."

Right from day one City Development involved the local residents in planning how the area would look once the work was complete. Lonnie Downes, who lives in Sutton Stop and who is Chair of the Residents Association, was involved from the beginning and he said,

"Everyone is delighted with how our road looks and with how the City Council and contractors ensured that we didn’t have to put up with too much disruption. The City Council said they wouldn’t change the character of the road and they haven’t – it’s one hundred times better now nut it’s still very much a narrow rural road."

The work was part of the canal corridor regeneration programme and was paid for with European and Single Regeneration Budget money for the promotion of tourism. The work which involved construction of a temporary road to maintain access for residents and nearby businesses has finished a week ahead of schedule.