A HIDDEN Barnsley beauty spot has been destroyed by construction workers who have excavated one side of a disused canal without planning permission.

Barnsley Council has ordered unauthorised works to stop along the former canal to the rear of Jewson and other businesses at Barnsley Trade Park at Stairfoot, where two new units are to be constructed.

The footpath along the former canal was fenced off last week with a sign saying ‘no public access private land’.

They had already began complaints to the council about the work but their anger escalated this week when workers used diggers to cut away one side of the former canal, removing one bank completely.

Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle