Footbridge at Waterside Valley

It is a pleasure at all times to walk along Waterside valley, all the more so on a sunny day in Spring, now that the scrub clearance has revealed the curves and meandering nature of the river.

We were fortunate to be successful in grant funding from the WECA Rural Fund to remove the old wooden footbridges and replace them with a 16-meter footbridge, which will span the muddy banks, making it much more accessible in wet weather. We are working towards ensuring that this bridge eventually joins the accessible path, opening the valley to those in wheelchairs and buggies.

The treatment of the footbridges in the Waterside Valley Management Plan was clear - they are unusable for much of the time because of the difficult access across the mud banks. The new bridge has a vastly increased span, enabling easy and safe access from the path to the bridge. This will help join the communities of Radstock, Westfield and Haydon at all times of year.

Our challenge now is to find an appropriate contractor at a reasonable cost. It is worth taking some time to explore all options and we will keep you updated.

Grove Wood, Haydon Batch and Waterside Valley are all public spaces that are rich in nature. The project will enhance connectivity and allow richer experiences of nature either individually or in organised groups, such as bat walks, foraging, hedge layering, scrub clearance, mindfulness and green social prescribing.

For more information about what’s on at Waterside Valley, visit www.somervalleyrediscovered.co.uk/