Signs of Cycling City

Cyclists are being helped on their way to St Bernadette School and the Oasis Academy with these helpful new signs, at the Longreach Grove/Davids Road railway path access point.

There's yet another set of steps before Davids Road is reached.

Perhaps wheel channels might have been a more useful investment - though they only help cyclists, and there are plenty of buggy and wheelchair users who might find a smoother surface would give better access to the delights of Sturminster Road - including its frequent bus services.

The Latest Land Grab

Developers are about to reveal plans for continuous housing across the fields that now separate Whitchurch village from Stockwood.

The area in question is 13 hectares of meadow, crossed by three footpaths and used at present for grazing horses. It's bounded by Staunton Lane to the south, Stockwood Lane to the east, Craydon Grove to the north, and the cycle path to the west. All of it's in BaNES, and if it goes ahead, the 340 homes will almost double the size of Whitchurch village to make a continuous built up area.

Footpath users will already have seen changes in the fields. A notice from Robert Hitchins Ltd (better known as developers of commercial and industrial estates) warns walkers to stay on the path - which has now been marked, uniquely in my experience, by posts every few yards with blue arrow footpath markers. It doesn't do much for that 'freedom of the countryside' feeling! There are signs, too, of exploratory boreholes.

Hitchins' agents Pegasus Planning, who take a great interest in the potential of greenfield, green belt countryside south of Bristol, are putting on an exhibition of their plans at Whitchurch Primary School (on the A37 Bristol Road) on Monday 4th and Thursday7th October, between 3.30pm and 8pm

That's a nice walk across the fields from Stockwood!

Added 1.10.10:
More detail on this Friends of Stockwood Open Spaces page

Changes to the Whitchurch Railway Path

Plenty of people out and about on the Whitchurch Railway path today. They had a couple more things to see, too - alongside the new picnic tables, interpretation boards appeared just befor Easter.

I've added more, including the content of the boards themselves, on the FoSOS web pages

Bristol's Other Railway Path - 2

'Cycling City' has turned its attention to the Whitchurch Railway Path. In the next few months we should see improvements on the section between Craydon Road and Manston Close.

The sharp inclines along the route will be brought down to 1 in 20 or better

There'll be more bins (for litter and for dog waste).

The bordering vegetation will be cut back and maintained to provide more light and better sight lines along the route

The surface, where damaged, will be replaced.

The Craydon Road entrance will be revamped and improved.

Solar powered inset lights (acting as 'cats eyes) will be installed

Benches and picnic tables will be provided where the path borders open space, above the Saltwell valley and at the Craydon Grove entry point.

So far so promising. But isn't something missing?

All this may be great for those of us with easy access from the east side - but what about people living in that strip of the ward to the west, up to the Wells Road? There's only one surfaced level access point along the whole route (at the north end, from Hazelbury Road).

At Longreach Grove there's an underpass taking a footway from one side of the railway path to the other. There are 'slip' paths provided too. It's well used by people on the Wells Road side to get to the frequent buses (7 an hour) that go down Sturminster Road to the city centre. It's the obvious preferred choice if you're using public transport. Here you can get the cheap 57 ABus service, or you can check the online realtime indicators before you come out, to see exactly when First's next 54A will get there. Compare that with the Wells Road, which offers 2 buses an hour at best, and no realtime checks.

But whether you're headed for the cycle path, the buses, the Sturminster Social Club, or whatever - if you've got wheels, you've got problems. The steps on the west side make it impossible for mobility scooters and bikes with trailers, very difficult for buggies, and a nuisance for basic pushbikes.

It wouldn't be too difficult to iron these out. Isn't that the sort of thing that Cycling City could include in the cycle path project?

They have, of course, been asked.

Bristol's Other Railway Path - 1

[This is the one that runs south through Stockwood along the Sturminster valley, following the route of the old Radstock line. Part of NCN route 3, which, if you stay with it long enough, will take you to Lands End.]

The rumoured sale of some of the green wooded space lying between the Whitchurch Railway path and Hazelbury Road raises questions about the council's observing its own rules for land disposal, as laid down in its Parks and Green Spaces Strategy which was adopted in February 2008. Did they really do it without the "extensive local consultation, research and observation" we were promised?

They certainly tried it with land alongside that other railway path (the one everyone talks about, up past the chocolate factory.) But after that little scandal was exposed, could it happen here, quietly, while the Area Green Space Plan is still being drafted?

It's enough to prompt questions in the council meeting. I've tabled some for Gary Hopkins to answer on the 15th:

2. Is the ribbon of green space (mapped in green and brown) in Stockwood alongside the Whitchurch Railway Path (National Cycle Network Route 3) 
a) a part of the city Parks land holding? and
b) subject to the P&GSS ?

3. Is any part of it currently up for sale, in the process of being sold, or recently sold? (if so, a map would be helpful)

4. Has any such land been fully assessed before sale as prescribed in the P&GSS (p36)?

Stockwood - Bristol's newest shopping destination!

Things have been happening at Hollway Road shops, the parade of two dozen units plus library at the heart of Stockwood. Cycling City is on the job of turning it into the destination retail centre of choice for the cyclists of South Bristol.


Until now, we've had to make do with just three bike stands at the shops.


Now, two have been added at the library


.....plus two at the Co-op


.....plus three at the post office


.....plus two at the chippy


.....plus two at the offie.


Sadly, the recently refurbished playground at Cottle Road Park, with its own little shopping parade, remains without any provision for bikes.


As do the shops on Sturminster Road.

Clearly, there's a plan behind all this. If only we knew what it was.
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Meanwhile, the other side of the one-time tracks, the Parks people are consulting about the future of the few acres of open space between the Whitchurch Railway Path and the Saltwell Viaduct on the A37. Apparently it's a Site of Nature Conservation Interest, (which makes it pretty safe from being sold off to provide park-keepers in Knowle). But isn't this the place where Cycling City want to provide a new off-road link route under the viaduct and up into Whitchurch? They don't seem to have told the Parks planners.....

Proposed development sites unveiled.

The council has published the outcome of its 'Call for Sites', when it invited suggestions for sites in Bristol that should be considered for development. It's part of consultations over the Bristol Development Framework, which will guide future planning decisions in the city.

Over 1100 people answered the 'Call', nominating around 600 sites. They can be checked from here on the council's website, which has a schedule of all the sites, and maps of each area with the sites marked and referenced.

I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one to propose a modern multimodal transport hub centred on Plot 6 at Temple Meads.
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This map section (original pdf here) shows sites nominated in Stockwood. All of them are submitted by 'other' - which I take to be parts of the council itself. Biggest site is the hillside above the brook east of Sturminster Road, some of it open space and some woodland. It's nominated for housing.

There's also, oddly enough, a proposal to use the Whitchurch Railway Path - the long thin bit on the map - for 'transport infrastructure'. Err... I thought that's what it was. Or are they trying to tell us something ?

Cycling City to pay for a major road project?

The Callington Road Link has been a new major road project for years, and it's close to actually being built - with a little bit of help from Cycling City.

At the West of England's annual 'Transport Forum' we were told they want to consult on the road link during 2009, then bid for government cash backing in 2010.

It's only a short link, from Tescos at Brislington along the cutting of the disused railway to a point near Sainsburys at Arnos Vale. What makes it significant - and a heavy transport route - is that it shortens the link between the M32 and south-west Bristol, especially when, as they fully intend, the controversial South Bristol link is built from Hengrove to Long Ashton.

Then at the end of October the cabinet welcomed a report from the Cycling City team that they want a cycleway down the same disused railway cutting, completing another link - from Whitchurch to Temple Meads via Arnos Vale. Certainly good news for me - I'm lazy enough to prefer this flatter, quieter route in to town.


BUT - the land is privately owned - by the Brethren, I'm told. Whether for a cycleway or for a road, someone's got to pay for it.

The answer came today from Cllr Bradshaw in a written reply to Glenn Vowles, who'd asked "Can you confirm to what extent the Cycling City budget will be used to fund property acquisition along the line of the proposed Callington Road Link...?"

"Yes, I can confirm that one option being considered is the acquisition of part of the disused railway line between Tesco Brislington and Arnos Vale..."

So - unless there's some arrangement to claw back the money later from the roads budget - it looks like Cycling City will be helping to pay for a major new road link.

Time for more questions, I think.