Residents delighted with improvements to path in Bishopsworth

A campaign to improve a well-used but overgrown and poorly maintained short-cut has been hailed by local residents as a success.

Resident Norman Bridge kicked off the drive to tackle the path in Bishopsworth which is used regularly by Bedminster Down pupils and residents but which was then in poor condition, steep and overgrown with brambles.

The issue was raised at a meeting of the Bishopsworth Neighbourhood Forum, and the councillors in the Dundry View Neighbourhood Partnership allocated the funding needed to take action.

Heather Williams, the Neighbourhood Partnership's community worker, began working with officers from the council's Highways, Public Rights and Housing Estate Management teams to tackle the problems.

A key aspect was encouraging residents to complete a Public Rights of Way form in order to demonstrate that the path off Ilchester Crescent was still in use.

"What got it moving was when Heather got the Public Rights of Way form printed," said Norman Bridge.

"We went round and put forms out and collected them in, returned them to Heather and she passed them to the Public Rights of Way officer to establish a Public Right of Way."

Once that was in place, plans for new steps, hand rails and paving were drawn up by the council and installed in the autumn. The cost of the remedial works was £9,000.

Resident Joanne Sargent said: "It's fantastic. The brambles were terrible; sometimes there was just a tiny gap to get through", while Ryan Pill, another resident, added, "the path used to have stones and sometimes I tripped up".