The Bedser Bridge

You said, we have listened and acted

During October, Woking Borough Council sought your opinions on plans for a replacement pedestrian footbridge over the Basingstoke Canal, known as the Bedser Bridge proposal.

A total of 259 representations were received. In addition, an online petition facilitated through the Woking Borough Council e-petition facility collected 535 signatories and a further petition organised by local residents gained over 1,340 signatures.

Thank you for your comments.

By evaluating your representations, it was clear that the main concerns related to the height of the proposed bridge, accessibility issues caused by the length of the ramps and the number of steps, and its appearance.

We have taken all represenations into account and have worked closely with our architects, Hopkins, to address these issues and a revised bridge design has been agreed.

The new bridge design is significantly lower than the original, meaning fewer steps and shorter, more compact ramps, while remaining Equality Act and disability compliant.

Instead of a concrete and galvanised steel structure, the new design features a timber bridge that will be sympathetic to its surrounding area. The Brewery Road side has been reconfigured to improve public access to the bridge by incorporating split-level access to the WWF-UK building.

Shorter, curved ramps mean it has been necessary to revise the landscape scheme, which will include planting two native species trees as part of the revised ramps

You said, we have

You said: The proposed bridge is too high.

We have reduced the height of the proposed bridge by approximately 1.2m (4ft). The height of the bridge is now only 52cm (19") higher than the existing pedestrian bridge.

It is necessary to increase the height of the new bridge to allow current and future service pipes to be installed underneath the bridge, while maintaining a minimum clearance height of 2.4m (7ft 9") from ground level to the underside of the bridge to ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

You said: The bridge proposal benefits WWF-UK, with level access to the new building, whilst causing inconvenience to the majority of users.

We have revised the design so that users crossing the bridge to the Brewery Road side will have a choice to either ascend steps, or a ramp, to the public piazza and entrance to the WWF-UK building, or descend steps, or a ramp, to ground level.

You said: Access to the bridge will be more difficult, as the proposed bridge design includes long ramps and too many steps.

We have revised access arrangements to the proposed bridge. On the town side, the ramp and steps have been removed altogether.

On the Brewery Road side, the length of the ramp leading to ground level has been significantly reduced from around 95m (312ft) to approximately 50m (164ft) in length. This will mean significantly fewer steps leading to ground level, from 26 to just 12 steps.

From the bridge, an additional ramp and steps will take visitors to the public piazza and WWF-UK building.

The width of the new bridge will measure 3.5m (11ft 5") on the town side, to 5m (16ft 4") on the Brewery Road side, compared to the current bridge which is 3m (9ft 8") wide. On the Brewery Road side, the ground level access ramp is 2.4m (7ft 9") wide, while the WWF-UK access ramp is 1.8m (5ft 9") wide.

You said: The bridge design and materials are not in keeping with the surrounding area.

We have incorporated a timber bridge into the new design, introducing retaining walls, similar to those that surround The Lightbox, to soften the appearance of the design. The ramp and stair balustrades will be painted with the handrail finished in galvanised steel.

You said: The cost of the bridge is too high.

We have capped our financial contribution towards the construction of the new bridge at £750,000. Any cost above this figure will be met by WWF-UK. If the final cost of the bridge is below this figure, the Council's contribution will decrease proportionately. The existing bridge is owned by Woking Borough Council and its replacement is the responsibility of the Council.

What next?

Once development commences in early 2012, we will work closely with WWF-UK and its contractors to minimise disruption to local residents caused by the construction of the Bedser Bridge.

More detailed information will be made available throughout the building programme.