Open letter calls for L&G to reopen Bristol cycling route

The housing development on Bonnington Walk is expected to finish in December 2025

An open letter has called on a company to reopen the popular cycling route it closed three years ago.

Legal & General initially shut the route along Concorde Way in Lockleaze, Bristol, for six months in 2021 to build 185 homes.

It said "unforeseen delays" meant the work now will not be finished until December 2025.

The letter has been signed by major employers in the area, including UWE and the Ministry of Defence.

Signs around Concorde Way have advised cyclists to get off and walk

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the path between Bonnington Walk and Constable Road is used by about 1,000 commuters every day.

The Bristol Cycling Campaign has published an open letter to Legal & General calling for the route to be reopened by July this summer.

'Taking action'

It reads: "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... have been required to follow the on-road diversion placing them at greater danger.

"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."

The modular homes being built by Legal & General 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.

The company blamed "numerous unforeseen delays" in the construction project on wet weather and problems with the foundations.

Legal & General said the route was set to reopen in August 2025, with the development completing in December 2025.