A £53,000 project, which aims to provide a 'greener'way to shop is being launched by St Helens Council.

The scheme will improve access and signs to the town centre for cyclists and walkers along the Ravenhead Greenway. Major improvements to the greenway will be carried out extending from Bosworth Fields, Blackborook, down to Thatto Heath Park, via the town centre.

There will also be a footbridge and canalside improvements alongside the new World of Glass centre, currently nearing completion and work is planned to upgrade links from the south of the town centre as part of the new Ravenhead Retail Park development due to start on the linkway.

Councillor Keith Deakin, chairman of Leisure, said: "These major works build on the earlier foundations of land reclamation and access improvements to the south of the town centre and the St Helens Canal development schemes. Access through the Ravenhead Greenway to the town continues to improve for walkers and cyclists, helping to provide sustainable transport options for local communities."

As part of the Mersey Forest Initiative, the programme will complement access, habitat and improved sign work carried out last year in a partnership between the council and the Wasteland to Woodland initiative funded by the local authority, Landfill tax and Countryside Agency.

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