Calls for cycling route in Bristol to reopen after three years closure
Concorde Way was initially meant to shut for only six months
Last updated 7th Apr 2024
The University of the West of England and the Ministry of Defence have urged a developer to reopen a cycling route closed three years ago. Legal & General initially said they would close part of the Concorde Way, used by about 1,000 commuters every day, for just six months.
Now Legal & General, the insurance company which is building 185 homes at Bonnington Walk in Lockleaze, said the cycling route between Bonnington Walk and Constable Road will stay closed until August next year. The construction is then due to finally be finished in December.
The Bristol Cycling Campaign has published an open letter to Legal & General calling for the route to be reopened by July this summer, as well as an adjacent community orchard. The letter has been signed by major employers in the area, including UWE and the MOD.
The open letter was signed by Ian Pond, the chairperson of the Bristol Cycling Campaign; Suzanne Wilson, the chief executive officer of Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust; Professor Sir Steve West, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England; Matthew Allan, head of infrastructure at the Ministry of Defence; and Sarah Leeming, director at Sustrans.
The letter said: “For every day of the closure, local residents have been prevented from enjoying the community orchard and traffic-free space. The many path users include walkers and cyclists, commuters to and from Bristol city centre and its Northern Fringe campus and enterprise areas, and pupils of local schools — who have been required to follow the on-road diversion placing them at greater danger, compared to using the Concorde Way.
“Taking action now to reopen the path and community orchard will remove the long-running uncertainty that local residents and path users have had to put up with about the duration of the closure, as a result of the repeated delays on the housing development. Fixing the public right of way status will give us all long-term confidence about the future of the path.
“As the clock ticks down to the third anniversary of the closure, now is the time for Legal & General to do the right thing for local residents and the wider Bristol and South Gloucestershire communities and employers, by reopening the community orchard, the Concorde Way path and guaranteeing the long-term future of these important amenities.”
Legal & General blamed “numerous unforeseen delays” in the construction project on wet weather. Last year builders also dismantled and removed dozens of homes due to problems in the foundations. The modular homes were meant to be a relatively fast method of construction, with timber frames built off-site in a factory, and were originally due to be finished in 2022.
A spokesperson from Legal & General said: “We are absolutely committed to reopening a much-improved cycle path for the local community, as a public right of way. Unfortunately, we have experienced numerous unforeseen delays on site which have prevented us from opening the cycle path sooner.
“We have had one of the wettest winters recorded which has had a serious impact on development activity. However, we now have a clear timeline of when the development will be completed and as such have reviewed when the earliest possible date that we could safely open the path could be.
“This is confirmed for August 2025, ahead of the development completing in December 2025. In terms of the orchard area, this currently has a coded padlock which all orchard volunteers have always had a key and access to. However, when we open phase one of our site, which will be in November this year, the orchard will be fully open to all.”