The final phase of a new £20 million canal route in Merseyside is on the verge of completion.

It is Britain's first new water route for a century and means that boats will be able to navigate the Leeds-Liverpool canal straight into the Albert Docks.

In the final part of the plan, which should be completed within a month, engineers have been creating a route through the central docks to the north of the Pier Head, reports the Liverpool Daily Post.

The entire project, including finishing touches like landscaping, paths and benches, will be done by the end of the year. The canal route should be open to boating traffic from next spring.

British Waterways' project manager Richard Longton told the paper: "The channels have all been dug. We're now laying a concrete base and two concrete walls.

"If you are going through a rural setting, you could just excavate a channel. But because we are going through an urban environment it has to be water retaining to protect the buildings."

Funding for the Liverpool Canal Link scheme has come from the NWDA, Peel Holdings, British Waterways and English Partnerships.