Major works at a park in East Bristol have "fallen slightly behind schedule", the council has said. The St George's Park works were initially expected to be completed in mid-May, but it is now expected it will be early July.
The £400,000 project will include the creation of new wetlands habitats and a 'natural amphitheatre' for performances at the popular Bristol park. Bristol City Council first announced that the "area around the lake" would be closed to the public for six months in mid-November.
The council has now said poor weather and issues experienced with the desilting of the lake have meant the work has fallen behind schedule. A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said: “Construction work to the lake edge walls including improvement to the land drainage to the south side of the lake and new access covers to the inlet at the east end of the lake are now complete.
Read more: St George Park lake to close for six months of major restoration works
"At the south west corner of the lake, the building of the dipping platform has started. The wetland areas have been created and will be planted with wetland plants and shrubs in the coming weeks.
"Bird and bat boxes are also due to be installed on the lake island. Work on the amphitheatre is underway, however due to poor weather conditions and issues experienced with the desilting of the lake it has fallen slightly behind schedule.
“New benches and information and interpretation boards are being installed around the lake as part of the work to renew the footpaths. We are working hard on the improvements to St George’s Park and expect to be finished by early July, with the majority of features completed before then.”
The project is supported by the community group, Friends of St George Park, which has been involved in designing the ecology elements of the project.
The council has previously said that the lake edge walls were deteriorating and were in a state of collapse in places. It added that if the structural repairs were not carried out, the lake would soon need to close due to safety concerns.
The explanation continued: “Not to proceed with this project would lead to potential further deterioration to the lake edge and could lead to the lake area being permanently closed off for safety reasons."
Bristol Live reported on toxic algae being discovered in the lake in June 2020 following confirmation from the Environmental Agency that the blue-green algae was harmful to both humans and animals.
