News / Bath Road
Key pavement and cycle path link to be temporarily re-opened in south Bristol
An important pavement link will be temporarily re-opened following further delays to a controversial housing development in Totterdown.
Construction on the Boatyard, a selection of ‘affordable’ one, two and three bedroom flats on Bath Road in Totterdown, was due to be completed this year, but work has repeatedly stalled on the site after various setbacks.
The site was held up by mayor Marvin Rees in 2021 as evidence of his mission to get affordable homes built, during a visit by Labour leader Keir Starmer, but work on the site was paused after its developer, Mid Group, went into administration in July last year.
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The hoardings blocked a bus lane outside the Boatyard development – photo: Matt Ringshaw
Comprising of ‘affordable homes, including a 17-story tower block and two accompanying buildings’, construction was restarted a few months later under a London-based housing association, Clarion Housing Group, but Brislington West councillor Andrew Varney said the project is now unlikely to be finished until 2025.
The site hoardings, which were blocking the pavement, bus lane and cycle path, will now be temporarily removed. The cycle path and bus lane will also be temporarily reopened.
Varney said: “(Clarion) let us know that things are progressing and that they are taking the development in house. They are going to have a period of redesign so the interiors will be redesigned before they get on with finishing the scheme.
“But, that period of redesign is going to take quite some time, so in the meantime they have offered to pull back the hoardings so we can open up the footpath, the bus lane and the cycle path.”
“It will only be temporary, because once they start to finish the development they will have to put those hoardings back again. It would probably be about six months. Then they would close it again once they have got their designs in place.”
Varney said he had pushed for the removal of the hoardings after a number of cranes were removed from the site, to make sure his community was still able to have safe access on the road.
The cranes had been at the centre of controversy in the community, with complaints about their appearance in the south Bristol skyline after continuous delays to the site.
The cranes have been temporarily removed from the Boatyard development – photo: Andrew Varney
“These routes are blocked, and the traffic lights… recently their batteries went and people could not cross the road, so it would be good if we could open them up again” he said.
Clarion also came under scrutiny after a landslide occurred directly by the site in February. The slip generated concern about the building’s structural safety within the community.
Clarion denied the development would be affected, and has offered to speak with environmental agencies to get the river bank re-profiled.
Varney agreed that there was nothing to worry about: “The building is on substantial piles, a sort of concrete raft, so it is completely unaffected.”
Main photo: Matt Ringshaw
Read next:
- Banksy’s Totterdown mural boarded up
- New contractor found for abandoned South Bristol tower
- Housing development will block Bristol’s view of ‘iconic’ colourful houses, say residents
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