Bridgefoot Street park has yet to be delivered after years of delays

Four years after councillors agreed to a plan to develop a park on Bridgefoot Street, local residents and representatives are still questioning when the park will be delivered.

In 2017, and after years of campaigning, councillors voted to approve a motion that would see an empty green field site on the corner of Bridgefoot Street and Island Street be turned into a public park.

Plans for the park show that play spaces, performance areas, hard and soft landscaping, and allotments will be included.

Council officials originally earmarked the site for social housing but came to a compromise with local residents and decided to build housing on a small piece of land off the nearby Bonham Street.

However, progress on the park has been slow and frustration has been building among the local community, said Green party councillor for the area Michael Pidgeon.

“People understand delays,” he said at a recent South Central Area Committee meeting.

“No one’s angry. But I think is there any reason we can give people as to why it’s been delayed opening another month or two?”

Two years ago, head of planning for the council Richard Shakespeare said that the plans were voted and approved through the process known as Part VIII, it then went to detailed design, then out to tender – which accounts for the two-year gap between 2017 and 2019.

The current delays, however, have not been clearly explained even though construction has been ongoing for the past couple of years.

Bruce Phillips, the South Central Area manager said the council originally envisaged that the park would be opened this month.

“There are problems with contractors, in terms of staff and getting supplies to carry out works and the contractor,” he said.

“The contractor that’s on site at the moment has needed materials that is not possible to source.

“As soon as the contractor gets these materials the park will be completed and opened.”

Phillips says that he could not give an accurate opening date did say that “I think we are at this stage looking at early January.”

Further works on Bridgefoot Street are also be progressed, including the median which will be turned into a planted area – similar to that on James Street.

“15 new London plane trees will be planted along the median with underplanting of shrubs, herbaceous plants and bulbs,” the council said.

“Parking restrictions and some restrictions on access will apply for the duration of the works and a diversionary route will be in place.”

Phillips said that this that will give the Bridgefoot Street area a much-needed aesthetic boost.

“I think we can all agree that it’s been somewhat kind of a neglected area for many years, but that has now changed,” he said.