Deep Flooding Closes Bath To Bristol Cycle Path

A well-used cycle path which links Bath and Bristol along the River Avon has been closed due to flooding after recent weather.

Photo courtesy of @AnalogueAndy on Twitter

A number of cyclists have been airing their concerns to the Council about the amount of water on the path, with claims the water is as high as 50cm at some points in the flooded area.

The stretch of cycle path which has flooded is around 100m long and is believed to have flooded this way yearly after heavy spells of rain.

Labelled ‘The Newbridge Lake’, local cyclists have said that the cycle path when flooded is dangerous and could cause anyone who came off their bike to end up with injuries or hypothermia.

Andy Stewart, a regular user of the cycle path, said: “If this were the A4 and drivers were being affected a solution would have been found by now. Once again cyclists are being treated as second class citizens.

“Yes, I understand that the neighbouring land owners are not keen to take the water. Their land is already saturated or flooded from the river and I can’t see this water is going to make the situation any worse for them. “

It is understood that most of the water that has accumulated on the path is from higher farm land to the south of the cycle route.

Councillor Nigel Robers, Bath and North East Somerset Council’s cycling champion, tweeted this afternoon that the path would be closed and a decision taken on Monday for the next steps to rectify the problem.

One of the options that are being looked into includes raising the cycle path to limit the amount of flooding possible.

Cyclists have hit back against the decision to close the path, saying that the water should have been pumped out by the Council instead.