A £133,000 project to make a community waterway safe and accessible for everyone has been backed.

The improvements to Ulverston Canal will include landscaping work, information signs along the route and building new footpaths. 

At a meeting of Ulverston Town Council on Monday, a presentation was given by Colin Smith, chairman of the Ulverston Canal Regeneration Group.

He explained in detail about the planning application that has been submitted to South Lakeland District Council. 

Over the past year Groundwork has been working closely with the Ulverston Canal Regeneration Group and the landowners NPL Ltd to come up with a plan to make the canal more of a "leisure zone". 

Mr Smith said: "This project is about making it more accessible, more attractive and much safer."

Mr Smith said one of the highlights of the project is the proposal to have information boards along the canal. 

He said: "The first one will announce Ulverston Canal and make it obvious to people that they are entering a leisure zone."

The team are also hoping that the five information boards that will be strategically placed along the towpath will also have a QR code, which can be scanned. 

Mr Smith said: "The boards will have basic information about the canal but the QR codes will allow people to access further information." 

Some of the enhancement work will include removing vegetation and re-exposing kerb edges, installing knee rails for safety and building new footpaths.

The information boards will also have braille on. 

Mr Smith explained to the town council that if the planning committee at SLDC approves, the application work will start immediately. 

He said: "The contracts are all in place ready to be issued. 

"The idea is we would have the contractors on site by the end of March and our funding has to be spent by the end of May."

The money raised from the project has come from a number of sources. 

Mr Smith said: "The Canal Regeneration Group has raised £5,000 through events held over the past 18 months, this has been matched and doubled by Groundwork, giving us another £10,000. 

"We also applied and were successful for a grant from Grantscape which is £100,000 and received £18,000 from SLDC."

SLDC has not yet set a date for when the application will go before the planning committee.