A NEW pedestrian route has opened linking Saltford and Bitton.
Villagers and Wessex Water staff crossed the footway over the River Avon for the first time to mark the completion of the company’s £9 million bridge project.
The pedestrian crossing is alongside the main access road across the river, which allows travel to and from Saltford’s water recycling centre via the A431 and has been used by site traffic since February.
The Mead Lane centre on the Saltford side of the river is being expanded as part of a £35 million investment by Wessex Water to ensure it can keep pace with the treatment demands from an expanding population in Bath and surrounding areas. That project is expected to be complete by 2026.
Parish council members representing Saltford and Bitton, ward members and residents joined Wessex Water chief executive Colin Skellett and other staff for the first walk across the footway and to take part in an opening ceremony on each side.
Saltford Parish Council chair Jon Godfrey said: “We’ve been following with a lot of interest what Wessex Water have been doing here and we’re big supporters.
“They haven’t just built a bridge, but developed an ecologically sensitive area, which is in green belt so has to be done with great care.
“Walking along the river is an important amenity to the residents of Saltford, and the other factor is the reduction in heavy goods traffic through a conservation area and past listed buildings and very narrow streets, so that will be really significant for the residents of Saltford.”
Pictured below, Saltford Parish Council chair Jon Godfrey, right, cuts the ribbon on the Saltford side of the new footway. Also pictured are parish councillor Andy Rice, B&NES ward councillors Alison Streatfield-James and Duncan Hounsell, and Wessex Water chief executive Colin Skellett
