Part of the High Peak Trail due to be widened. Photo: Alex Hyde

A stretch of off-road trail in the Peak District will be widened and improved.

Work will begin on Monday on a section of the High Peak Trail in Derbyshire, and the route will be resurfaced.

The Peak District National Park Authority said the work on 2.3km (1½ miles) of the trail between Newhaven Crossing and Minninglow car park is expected to last until mid-February.

It said use of the trail may be restricted at times but it will remain passable.

Parts of the trail on that section are just 750mm wide in places, which is not enough to accommodate walkers, cyclists and horse riders at busy times. The improvements will mean the trail is widened to a width of at least 3m (10 feet).

Emma Stone, who manages the Peak District national park trails, said: “This is a trail with a variety of users and widening it to a minimum of 3m should make the whole experience much safer and more enjoyable for everyone.”

The work is part of a continuing programme to improve safety and accessibility on the traffic-free trails in the UK’s first national park.

The High Peak Trail runs for 27km (17 miles) from Dowlow, near Buxton, to High Peak Junction at Cromford. It follows the former route of the High Peak railway line, which opened in 1831 to carry minerals and goods between the Cromford and Peak Forest canals.

Following the closure of the line, the Peak District national park bought the part of the route within its boundary in 1971 and turned it into a traffic-free trail. The section from Daisy Bank, Longcliffe, to High Peak Junction is outside the national park and owned by Derbyshire County Council.

The improvement work is scheduled to run from 23 January to 17 February.