A DURSLEY civil engineer is looking forward to project managing the Stroud Waterway canal regeneration project and says he is proud to work on a project that will benefit the whole of the district.

Paul Coupe has already taken up his post at Stroud District Council as director and project manager of the £20million canal regeneration project, which he says will be one the most technically challenging he has worked on.

Paul, 42, trained as a charted civil engineer and has worked all over the world from the far east to America.

He has a background in water-based engineering after joining British Waterways in 2000 and working as their South West engineering manager.

In March this year he started work directing the restoration of the canals from Stonehouse to Brimscombe Port. He says it is a "colossal" challenge because it has lots of complex aspects to negotiate from conservation management and contaminated land to structural engineering.

But Paul, a father-of-one, is in no doubt of one thing - that the project will be of benefit to the whole of the district, not just Stroud.

"A lot of people in Dursley and surrounding villages feel this project isn’t going to benefit them at all, but I wouldn’t have got involved in this if it wasn’t going to benefit all the communities in the Stroud district. I am a local person and I can certainly see the benefits.

"The canal regeneration will bring lots of exciting developments into the area. One of the most important things is that it will create employment, not just during the build but after it has finished.

"The project will push up the land value around the canals and this will bring employment opportunities with housing developments, cafes and shops."

Paul also explained that the project will have huge environmental benefits because fish stocks are diminishing due to low water levels and lack of oxygen currently in the canal, which hasn’t been used since 1954. Dredging the canal will ultimately improve the water quality allowing more animals to thrive.

He hopes to get local schools interested in the project and ultimately add the canals project to local school curriculum so pupils can learn about its historic significance, environmental impact and economic importance.

It is certainly going to be a busy few years for Paul, who got married in April, and has a five-year-old daughter. In his very limited spare time he enjoys cycling on his mountain bike in Dursley woods and taking his Aprilla motorbike out for a spin.

"I absolutely love being able to drive home into Dursley in the evening, it is a great place to live."

He added: "I am very proud to be working on the canals project which will bring so many benefits to the communities in which I live and work."