News / floating harbour
‘Potential for loss of life’ if millions more not spent securing harbour walls
If a “flexible risk-based strategy” is not adopted by Bristol City Council, there will be “a significantly increased risk of a catastrophic asset collapse/failure and a subsequent potential for loss of life”.
This is the stark warning that is being presented to a meeting of the Harbour Committee whose members have responsibility for the upkeep of Bristol’s crumbling waterways.
Any closure of “strategic highway routes” due to a collapse of roads or paths into the Floating Harbour or New Cut could not just result in deaths but would also expose the council “to potential legal action and major reputational damage and environmental damage” according to a report.
Ongoing stabilisation work in several locations including close to Gaol Ferry Bridge and the Banana Bridge is continuing but there have also been “multiple new instances of partial river wall failure”.
These failures are due to accelerating rates of deterioration due to high tidal ranges along the New Cut, the age of structures (with some more than 200 years old) and a “historic lack of routine ongoing maintenance”.
The report ahead of a meeting of the Harbour Committee on June 23 adds that the funding required to mitigate the identified risks “significantly exceeds current allocations” with council officers recommending “sustained new engagement” with both Westminster and WECA “to secure additional capital funding opportunities”.
Current stabilisation work to the New Cut wall near the former prison gatehouse and the ramp to the former Gaol Ferry is costing £3.2m, with future work to the rockfaces close to the bridge due to cost more than £2.5m – photo: Martin Booth
Capital funding of £20m has already been approved for the New Cut walls programme, with ongoing works costing £6.7m on York Road in Bedminster and £3.2m on Cumberland Road next to Wapping Wharf.
Millions of pounds more need to be spent on other locations most at risk of collapse including areas of the New Cut next to the Co-Op on Coronation Road and the Bristol Metal Spraying site off Coronation Road on the other side of Vauxhall Bridge.
The grand total of estimated costs required on the New Cut walls to date – incorporating investigation, design and construction phases – is £22,465,347.
Sixty-seven assets have been rated as being in “a serious or critical condition” meaning that further capital investment is deemed as “essential”.
If funding cannot be secured, the report presented to the committee chaired by Lib Dem councillor Andrew Brown recommends the provision of £10m per year in capital investment over a five-year period.
The benefit of this plan is that it “would support a proactive, ongoing, and risk-based approach to the management of the New Cut River Walls, by enabling planned interventions informed by asset condition data and ongoing measured risk”.
“This option would improve long-term resilience, optimise lifecycle costs, and reduce the likelihood of unplanned failures or reactive maintenance, thereby delivering better value for money and improved asset performance over time.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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