Crucial work to bolster Bristol harbour’s flood defences will take until June next year – and could delay the reopening of the Chocolate Path, says Marvin Rees. Bristol City Council cabinet rubber-stamped spending £1.75million from the Environment Agency to fix the Underfall Yard sluices, a bill that has risen by £500,000 despite the project not starting since officers described it as “urgent” in December 2021.
But the city mayor told the meeting that the structures, which control water levels at the Floating Harbour, had been neglected for many years, so there was “a risk” that the work could have an impact on timescales for the Chocolate Path, which is due to reopen at the end of next month. The crumbling pedestrian and cycleway, alongside Cumberland Road, has been closed for five years on safety grounds and was part of a 40-metre section of the embankment and heritage railway which collapsed into the River Avon New Cut in January 2020.
Work to rebuild the wall and reinstate the Chocolate Path has already suffered delays, with the council finally confirming in January that the footpath would now reopen in May, three months later than expected because of “obstructions underground”. Answering questions from newly elected Cllr Patrick McAllister (Green, Hotwells & Harbourside) at cabinet on Tuesday, April 4, Mr Rees said the “provisional target date” to complete the sluices repairs was June next year.
