Let's Stop This New Threat to the Cycle Path.

bristol | community | announcement Saturday August 23, 2008 10:40 by Cycle Path User

Squarepeg's Plans.

Many people in Easton will be aware of the campaign which surrounded the closure of the Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory, the intentions of Persimmon, and the final purchase of the site by the developer Squarepeg. However, many of those who supported Squarepeg's bid to purchase the site may be unaware that their plans are not just limited to the factory site itself. The section of the cycle path next to the old Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory has now been purchased by the developer Squarepeg, who intend to build what they call "cycle houses" on the land. These houses will front onto the cycle path, and will destroy what was described by the anti-BRT campaign as “a green and tranquil linear park”.

It seem that some people just can't leave things alone. Just a few months ago, the Bristol to Bath cycle path was under threat from a proposed BRT route... well, that particular threat seems to have been lifted - for the time being at any rate, but now a new threat looms in Easton.

The proposal is for a row of twenty or so houses which will front directly onto the cycle path. To judge from the artist’s impression provided by Squarepeg themselves, the houses will be three stories high, with an apex roof added. This will be very intrusive and will dominate the path along this stretch, effectively turning it into a narrow street.

At present, the existing factory buildings are set back from the path, allowing the path to retain a rural atmosphere in the heart of the city. This is valued by many Easton residents who already live in one of the most densely populated areas of Bristol, and are undersupplied with green space.

That this should be proposed here in Easton is rather shocking. Nowhere else in Bristol would a developer be allowed to build right up to the edge of a green space in this way. By using the term “cycle houses”, and claiming that these would be the first such houses in Britain, the developers are seeking to greenwash their development proposal.

In the plans, the residents of the proposed houses will be able to cycle right out of their front doors onto the path. This may sound good on the face of it, but imagine how this will work in practice - especially during the morning and evening rush hours, with commuters heading to the city centre, and children going to school. This will be an accident blackspot.

The developers claim that the house will increase security and reduce crime by providing natural surveillance of the path. This seems unlikely to be the case, as the people in the houses are more likely to spend their time watching the television rather than watching the path.

See the plans www.GreenBankChocolateFactory.co.uk

Complain to your City Councillor via www.bristol.gov.uk or www.WriteToThem.com

There’s only a month or so until the planning application goes to the Council in September, so lets get active now to save the Path from this threat.