PARENTS feel they are dicing with death walking their children across a busy main road to get to and from school because a canal towpath is closed.

Part of the towpath alongside the Caldon Canal, in Hanley, has been closed for months for £1.1 million improvement works.

It means many parents and children are having to cross busy Lichfield Street to reach Waterside Primary School, on Eastwood Road, because of the towpath closure.

They believe the work is taking too long and want to see the path reopened sooner.

Housewife Helen Ranford, who has two children at the school, said it is dangerous crossing Lichfield Street with youngsters.

The 37-year-old, of Shirley Road, Hanley, said: "The closure of the towpath is causing no end of problems.

"It was a safe route to school but now we have to cross Lichfield Street, which is busy and dangerous even without two kids and a buggy.

"People can't be expected to cross in the middle of the road and it is a long way to walk to the crossing at the bottom."

Shop owner Kathy Brereton, of Rosedawn Close, Hanley, also has two children at the school.

The 35-year-old said: "This has been going on for around eight months.

"I bought a house with the hope I could cycle through the city along the towpaths but that isn't possible."

Emma Buckley, aged 29, who lives on Bower Street, Hanley, added: "It is dangerous going to school.

"We need a crossing put in until the work is done."

Full-time mother-of-two Debbie Heath, who lives on Cotesheath Street, Joiners Square, added: "I don't use the towpath but I know people who did and they are not happy it has been closed, especially for so long.

"The road is busy and dangerous to cross.

"We need a safe way for children to get to school."

The towpath works – a project between Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Renew North Staffordshire and British Waterways – will see 930 metres of towpath improved between Ivy House Road and Eastwood Road and Eastwood Road and Lichfield Street. Most of the work has been paid for through European funding.

A British Waterways spokesman said: "The section of towpath along the Caldon Canal near Lichfield Street has been closed for resurfacing works.

"Work is now entering its final stages and will be finished next month.

"Once completed, the towpath will provide improved access to Waterside Primary School and adjacent private developments."