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Tired of waiting Bristol cyclists ignore warnings and start using Avon towpath again - year after it shut for repairThe River Avon (CC licensed by Joe Dunckley via Flickr)

Tired of waiting Bristol cyclists ignore warnings and start using Avon towpath again - year after it shut for repair

Stretch of path has been closed for over a year awaiting repair
by Alex Bowden
Sat, Feb 07, 2015 14:08
13

A stretch of canal towpath alongside the River Avon is being used by cyclists despite the threat of falling masonry. The Bristol Post reports that the popular commuter route near Netham Lock in St George has been shut since January last year and it seems people have grown tired of waiting for it to be reopened.

A Bristol City Council spokeswoman explained the situation:

“The path closed in January 2014 when a dangerous, unstable wall along the footpath was identified. Temporary fencing was then erected and it was established that the wall belongs to the land owner of an adjoining industrial estate.

“They identified and removed a tall tree above the wall, which was identified as destabilising it, and they erected a structural scaffold to support the wall as an interim measure. The wall has yet to be repaired by the land owner, and although there is a commitment from them to carry out this work, they have yet to provide timescales for it being complete.”

Although the pathway will remain closed until the wall is repaired and the pathway is considered safe, a number of people are using it anyway.

Chris Percival, who rode to work in central Bristol along this stretch of towpath until it was closed, said other routes simply weren’t as good.

“Alternate routes are up the steep Blackswarth Road, or on the muddy path the other side of the river after going over the steel bridge that is covered in ice if the temperature is anywhere near zero, and is never gritted.

"As it has been shored up with scaffolding, people are choosing to use the path anyway. The council are falling very short of fully supporting pedestrians and cyclists and in Green Capital year this is surely very embarrassing."

Donald Lake of Welding Industries Ltd, the owners of the offending wall, said that finding a suitable contractor had taken longer than expected, but that the wall would shortly be taken down and rebuilt so that the towpath can be reopened.

Last month we reported how a planned eight week closure of part of the Bristol & Bath Railway Path – Britain’s busiest dedicated traffic-free cycle route – had stretched to six months. The local council carrying out the work said that the overrun was due to safety reasons, but Sustrans, who built the route, expressed disappointment at the prolonged closure.

Welding Industries Ltd
River Avon
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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13 comments

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a.jumper | 9 years ago
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If this was a road or railway, it would have been fixed long ago. Bristol doesn't care and allocates an inadequate 5% of its transport budget to the city's 7% of cycling commuters.

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brooksby | 9 years ago
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Kind of ironic, when you consider the reasons that the new cycle path alongside the A369 near Bristol was built from scratch.

At the consultation for the new path, I asked the reps why they couldn't do something with the existing footpath which cyclists have always used, as this would surely be cheaper - they explained that the stone wall alongside that footpath was not owned by the council and so they couldn't guarantee the maintenance or safety of the same, so they had to build a new path away from it.

Unfortunately, this has meant a new crossing island also had to be built to get people across from the shared use path on one side of the road across and onto the new cycle path. The island has no actual crossing controls/lights, or speed limit reductions - its just a refuge in the middle of a 50mph limit main road, at the bottom of a large dip so the cars are really travelling pretty darned fast...

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Mungo | 9 years ago
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Cycle City? Must try harder!

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s_lim | 9 years ago
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Have been stunned cycling in Bristol the last 2 months. The roads are a disgrace, I buckled a mavic rim last week in the centre. Cycle paths everywhere, but can't make sense of them. Tried an early morning ring road ride, but that was a suicidal effort...

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s_lim | 9 years ago
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Have been stunned cycling in Bristol the last 2 months. The roads are a disgrace, I buckled a mavic rim last week in the centre. Cycle paths everywhere, but can't make sense of them. Tried an early morning ring road ride, but that was a suicidal effort...

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Bob's Bikes | 9 years ago
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How about just knocking the wall down now and rebuild it later....oh no that would be far too sensible 102

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ThatBritishBloke | 9 years ago
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I wonder if sorting out the wall would take so long if it were dangerously situated next to an urban road?

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sprintstar replied to ThatBritishBloke | 9 years ago
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No, adjacent road fixed in two weeks. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Owner-denies-pig-blame-wall-collapse/story-...

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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Dear sir,

In my day you couldn't ride to work without expecting the odd wall to fall on you. It was to be expected, and all decent and caring parents would drop a few bricks on their child after buying them their first bike in order to prepare them for life in the real world.

The country has clearly gone mad, I blame the health and safety culture. No doubt this was instigated by some European meddler who should keep his nose out of our business.

Bah!

Yours of Tunbridge Wells.

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chokofingrz | 9 years ago
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Completely agree with the cyclists; it's a much-needed route and the on-road alternative is a very unattractive option.

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Hamster | 9 years ago
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Donald Lake of Welding Industries Ltd, the owners of the offending wall, said that finding a suitable contractor had taken longer than expected,

Cough, bollocks, cough. Any half way decent builder can carefully dismantle a wall and re-build it.
More like it's going to cost us loads and while the council closed the path we didn't think we need bother.

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kitkat replied to Hamster | 9 years ago
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Hamster wrote:

Donald Lake of Welding Industries Ltd, the owners of the offending wall, said that finding a suitable contractor had taken longer than expected,

Cough, bollocks, cough. Any half way decent builder can carefully dismantle a wall and re-build it.

My parents house has a perimeter wall which is in a precarious state and looms over a popular cycle path.

Trying to get someone to take it down and rebuild it in confined space was really difficult. The surveyors all have different approaches on how it should be done and trying to get someone to do the actual work is nigh-on impossible, no one wants to know. Unsurprisingly it has been a group of polish chaps who've agreed and have been great. All in it has taken about 18 months!

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Housecathst | 9 years ago
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I think I'd take my chances of being hit in the head by a brick rather than dealing with bristols arsehole motorists on the roads.

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