WALKING around a scenic reservoir has been made easier.

Yorkshire Water has resurfaced a 300-metre section of path at Leeming Reservoir, near Oxenhope.

And an inspiration behind the project was 15-year-old Henry Jepson, who lives with his family close to the site.

Henry suffers from seizures, visual impairment and learning difficulties as a result of being born premature.

He and family members enjoy walks at the moorland beauty spot, but the pathway posed problems.

His mum, Samantha, says: "Due to the nature of Henry’s seizures, they render him extremely fatigued and he has spent long periods in his wheelchair.

"Combined with Henry’s other disabilities, it can make his life very challenging to access his local area.

"In the past this has made it hard to push his wheelchair around the often-muddy and uneven reservoir path, so we are really grateful that improvements have been made."

When Yorkshire Water heard about the issue from the family and Bradford Council, it agreed to resurface the stretch of path with compressed stone.

Phil Tennyson, countryside apprentice with Yorkshire Water, said: "Last year a visitor satisfaction survey at Leeming told us that visitors were, overall, 98 per cent satisfied with our recreation provision onsite.

"As our recreation strategy is to foster memorable experiences in the countryside, we were delighted to work with the family and council to improve the path surface.

"We aspire to diversify our visitor demographic across the county, making sure everyone feels welcome in the countryside."

Bradford Council welcomed the link-up with the company.

"We are very pleased that Yorkshire Water has worked with us to facilitate an accessible pathway – not just for Henry but for the community," said Anne Lomas, for the council.

"Habilitation is a core skill in our specialist curricula for children and young people with vision impairment.

"We’re striving to develop independence for our young people – at home, in schools and in the wider community. Safe and accessible pathways such as this will contribute to independence and promote young people’s health and wellbeing.”