Flood defence work could delay Chocolate Path reopening

Part of the embankment collapsed into the River Avon in 2020

Work to bolster harbour flood defences will take until June 2024 - and could delay the reopening of a key walking and cycling path, a meeting hears.

Bristol City Council's cabinet has approved spending £1.75m from the Environment Agency to fix the Underfall Yard sluices.

Mayor Marvin Rees said the structures had been neglected for years.

He warned it meant there was a "risk" that work could impact the reopening of the nearby Chocolate Path.

Part of the path, which runs alongside Cumberland Road, collapsed when a 40m section of the embankment slipped down into the River Avon in January 2020.

The path was due to reopen at the end of May but Mr Rees said work on the Underfall Yard sluices, which control water levels in Bristol's Floating Harbour, had been neglected for so long there was a risk of further delay.

Answering questions from newly-elected councillor Patrick McAllister (Green, Hotwells & Harbourside) at a cabinet meeting on 4 April, Mr Rees said the sluice repairs were a "complex project".

Traffic restrictions have been in place on Cumberland Road since the embankment collapsed

He said: "I'm sure you are aware that so many aspects of the physical Bristol, from bridges to roads to the sluices to the harbour walls, seem to not have been serviced properly for the last 60 years and are coming to a critical point of needing maintenance at the same time.

"So unfortunately it doesn't just mean there is a huge financial challenge for us, it means a huge logistical challenge about how we organise that work and deliver that work in a way that those unintended crossover negative consequences are minimised."

He told councillors the dock sluices, which run under the Chocolate Path, have protected the city from tidal flooding since 1840, but were "not operating correctly".

"Ensuring the sluices are in their best possible condition is critical to maintaining the Floating Harbour which is such a key part of the city's identity.

"The works will be fully funded by the Environment Agency, which is incredibly positive news in these financially challenging times."

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