The New Bridge at Stratford Basin

[BlueStringPudding]

While waiting for my bus yesterday I took a wander round the building site that still is Stratford-Upon-Avon's Bancroft Gardens and saw the "landscaping" around the new bridge.

 

 

The tarmac covered area looks pretty much finished and yet they've installed only one bollard, on the corner of the entrance to the lock that divides the River Avon from Stratford Basin. I dunno about you guys but I don't think that's sufficient for securing a 65ft narrowboat or longer (on a corner!) against the flow of the river while either prepping the lock or waiting for the wide beams (such as the Countess Of Evesham restaurant boat) to pass through. (That boat couldn't pass you if you were tied to the single bollard with the bow under the bridge - which is the only way I can see that setup being a reasonable way to secure one's boat).

 

Boaters will be back to mooring on the opposite side of the river and walking to the lock as has been the case for some during the building works! Unless you've got a short-a*se boat in which case you might be fine.

 

I hope they intend to add at least one more but it doesn't look like it.

[denboy]

While waiting for my bus yesterday I took a wander round the building site that still is Stratford-Upon-Avon's Bancroft Gardens and saw the "landscaping" around the new bridge.

 

 

The tarmac covered area looks pretty much finished and yet they've installed only one bollard, on the corner of the entrance to the lock that divides the River Avon from Stratford Basin. I dunno about you guys but I don't think that's sufficient for securing a 65ft narrowboat or longer (on a corner!) against the flow of the river while either prepping the lock or waiting for the wide beams (such as the Countess Of Evesham restaurant boat) to pass through. (That boat couldn't pass you if you were tied to the single bollard with the bow under the bridge - which is the only way I can see that setup being a reasonable way to secure one's boat).

 

Boaters will be back to mooring on the opposite side of the river and walking to the lock as has been the case for some during the building works! Unless you've got a short-a*se boat in which case you might be fine.

 

I hope they intend to add at least one more but it doesn't look like it.

but thats why some people get paid huge salaries for planning they have no common sense

[Amduck]

Looks pretty useless to me. Wasn't keen on that walk round last year when we did it, on a busy day on the river. Must be a nightmare for anyone wanting to single hand.

[BlueStringPudding]

Looks like one of those pedestrian bridges you get over a busy dual-carriageway. Yeah, that's what visitors to Stratford come to see: concrete and brushed steel and tarmac. Not olde worlde architecture, Shakespearean beams, Victorian ironwork and greenery. Council f*ckwits (IMHO)

 

Even the 1930's frontage of the RSC was listed. It doesn't even go with that.

[NB Alnwick]

Looks like one of those pedestrian bridges you get over a busy dual-carriageway. Yeah, that's what visitors to Stratford come to see: concrete and brushed steel and tarmac. Not olde worlde architecture, Shakespearean beams, Victorian ironwork and greenery. Council f*ckwits (IMHO)

 

Even the 1930's frontage of the RSC was listed. It doesn't even go with that.

 

That bridge is just awful!

[rjasmith]

That bridge is just awful!

 

It certainly is!

 

I seem to remember that the original version, built by David Hutchings' volunteers was deemed a bit too steep for wheelchair access and is why the new one has those gentle approach ramps.

 

Why couldn't they have done what they do in Venice and fitted the old bridge with a wheelchair lift? Considerably cheaper I'd have thought and you can imagine the Venetians chucking away the Rialto bridge in favour of something in steel with a lower slope!

 

Richard

[PaulG]

Totally out of keeping with any other structure on the canal or the river. Possibly not quite the ugliest, as Colin P. Witter Lock ("Mr Hutchings' monstrous erection in the park" ) probably still has the edge.

 

I think it's just what you expect from an organisation that modestly calls itself "World Class Stratford". Arrogant T*ssers.

[stewey]

I agree, the bridge and surroundings look awful.

 

Whats with the "illustration" on the road in the middle of the picture. It looks like Casper the Ghost practicing his rope work

 

Stewey

Edited April 16, 2009 by stewey

[Geoff]

I was in the basin over the weekend and there is another "well thought out" problem.

To access the lock from the basin area you need a BW key to move the builders fencing surrounding the site.

No problem so far except, boats leaving the canal toward the river tend to leave a crew member to close the lock and then walk round to the Park to rejoin the boat, as BSP says its not easy to rejoin the boat from the hardly existant landing stage by the lock.

 

Problem : Most boats are chugging onto the river with their keys in the ignition so poor old crewy is marooned inside the worksite until some boater in the basin with a key lets them out !!

 

Brilliant

Geoff

[BlueStringPudding]

I was in the basin over the weekend and there is another "well thought out" problem.

To access the lock from the basin area you need a BW key to move the builders fencing surrounding the site.

No problem so far except, boats leaving the canal toward the river tend to leave a crew member to close the lock and then walk round to the Park to rejoin the boat, as BSP says its not easy to rejoin the boat from the hardly existant landing stage by the lock.

 

Problem : Most boats are chugging onto the river with their keys in the ignition so poor old crewy is marooned inside the worksite until some boater in the basin with a key lets them out !!

 

Brilliant

Geoff

 

Access to that lock was even worse when we were in Stratford a few weeks ago. The BW padlocked gates still didn't allow access through the gates - it created a triangle of metal gating that blocked all access to one side of the lock. And the gates overhang the pontoon. So we had jump across the water from one pontoon to the edge of the pontoon that's at a right-angle to it; then edge round the 6 inches of concrete between the other temporary railings and the water's edge in order to access one of the lock gates. Then back again, walk around the whole basin, climb into the building site on the RSC side, tiptoe through the pallets and broken concrete slabs on the floor then squeeze through the metal gates to reach the lock. So dangerous it's a stoppage as far as I'm concerned.

 

On the plus side after all that, just as we were about to untie the boat to enter the lock, Jay the owner of Nb Triton came over to us to show us how to nick the water hose from the building site to fill up with water, without having to venture out on to the river.

Edited April 16, 2009 by BlueStringPudding

[Dominic M]

While waiting for my bus yesterday I took a wander round the building site that still is Stratford-Upon-Avon's Bancroft Gardens and saw the "landscaping" around the new bridge.

 

The tarmac covered area looks pretty much finished and yet they've installed only one bollard, on the corner of the entrance to the lock that divides the River Avon from Stratford Basin. I dunno about you guys but I don't think that's sufficient for securing a 65ft narrowboat or longer (on a corner!) against the flow of the river while either prepping the lock or waiting for the wide beams (such as the Countess Of Evesham restaurant boat) to pass through. (That boat couldn't pass you if you were tied to the single bollard with the bow under the bridge - which is the only way I can see that setup being a reasonable way to secure one's boat).

 

Boaters will be back to mooring on the opposite side of the river and walking to the lock as has been the case for some during the building works! Unless you've got a short-a*se boat in which case you might be fine.

 

I hope they intend to add at least one more but it doesn't look like it.

A magnificent example of post neo-modern elegance.

[ditchcrawler]

While waiting for my bus yesterday I took a wander round the building site that still is Stratford-Upon-Avon's Bancroft Gardens and saw the "landscaping" around the new bridge.

 

 

The tarmac covered area looks pretty much finished and yet they've installed only one bollard, on the corner of the entrance to the lock that divides the River Avon from Stratford Basin. I dunno about you guys but I don't think that's sufficient for securing a 65ft narrowboat or longer (on a corner!) against the flow of the river while either prepping the lock or waiting for the wide beams (such as the Countess Of Evesham restaurant boat) to pass through. (That boat couldn't pass you if you were tied to the single bollard with the bow under the bridge - which is the only way I can see that setup being a reasonable way to secure one's boat).

 

Boaters will be back to mooring on the opposite side of the river and walking to the lock as has been the case for some during the building works! Unless you've got a short-a*se boat in which case you might be fine.

 

I hope they intend to add at least one more but it doesn't look like it.

How many bollards were there before

 

 

While waiting for my bus yesterday I took a wander round the building site that still is Stratford-Upon-Avon's Bancroft Gardens and saw the "landscaping" around the new bridge.

 

 

The tarmac covered area looks pretty much finished and yet they've installed only one bollard, on the corner of the entrance to the lock that divides the River Avon from Stratford Basin. I dunno about you guys but I don't think that's sufficient for securing a 65ft narrowboat or longer (on a corner!) against the flow of the river while either prepping the lock or waiting for the wide beams (such as the Countess Of Evesham restaurant boat) to pass through. (That boat couldn't pass you if you were tied to the single bollard with the bow under the bridge - which is the only way I can see that setup being a reasonable way to secure one's boat).

 

Boaters will be back to mooring on the opposite side of the river and walking to the lock as has been the case for some during the building works! Unless you've got a short-a*se boat in which case you might be fine.

 

I hope they intend to add at least one more but it doesn't look like it.

How many bollards were there before

[RLWP]

How many bollards were there before

 

None.

 

Richard

[BlueStringPudding]

 

Clearly a great improvement then! I take it all back.

[Dorlan]

How many bollards were there before

None.

 

Richard

There were two at, one time...

 

Stratford bollards

[ditchcrawler]

There were two at, one time...

 

Stratford bollards

And quite a bit of water as well

[RLWP]

There were two at, one time...

 

Stratford bollards

 

I stand corrected. I don't think I ever tried to climb the wall to find out.

 

Richard

[roger]

It certainly is!

 

I seem to remember that the original version, built by David Hutchings' volunteers was deemed a bit too steep for wheelchair access and is why the new one has those gentle approach ramps.

 

Why couldn't they have done what they do in Venice and fitted the old bridge with a wheelchair lift? Considerably cheaper I'd have thought and you can imagine the Venetians chucking away the Rialto bridge in favour of something in steel with a lower slope!

 

Richard

 

 

Despite doubts surrounding the bridge SONACS apparently agreed with the council that it was not DDA compliant. So there was an impetus to have the bridge removed, when it could have in fact been retained. There are many far worse structures on the canals that break the DDA regulations.

[BlueStringPudding]

The council also claimed that all (yes, ALL) the chestnut trees they cut down from Waterside were diseased. All looked very healthy to me, and none were replaced with the same sort of tree. And none were left standing. How convenient. They were all swapped for crappy little lime trees. All part of their big scheme.

 

Incidentally if so diseased why was a boater able to bribe one of the workmen to chop all the wood into stove-size pieces and take it away on the roof of his boat for the price of a bottle of whiskey? Diseased wood should be destroyed on site. Someone from the council found out, spoke to said boater that the wood is diseased and he can't take it off site and he told them he traded it from the workmen fair and square, so they let him off. Someone from the local paper found out and even interviewed him about it but I don't know if it was ever published (and he tactfully refused to give the council bloke's name). Doesn't sound like a major disease threat at all, does it?

 

All b*llocks to enable them to do whatever they want to the place, IMHO.

Edited April 17, 2009 by BlueStringPudding

[Dominic M]

The council also claimed that all (yes, ALL) the chestnut trees they cut down from Waterside were diseased. All looked very healthy to me, and none were replaced with the same sort of tree. And none were left standing. How convenient. They were all swapped for crappy little lime trees. All part of their big scheme.

 

Incidentally if so diseased why was a boater able to bribe one of the workmen to chop all the wood into stove-size pieces and take it away on the roof of his boat for the price of a bottle of whiskey? Diseased wood should be destroyed on site. Someone from the council found out, spoke to said boater that the wood is diseased and he can't take it off site and he told them he traded it from the workmen fair and square, so they let him off. Someone from the local paper found out and even interviewed him about it but I don't know if it was ever published (and he tactfully refused to give the council bloke's name). Doesn't sound like a major disease threat at all, does it?

 

All b*llocks to enable them to do whatever they want to the place, IMHO.

Apparently the said boater has since morphed into a very large conker and is now a 23er.

[BlueStringPudding]

Apparently the said boater has since morphed into a very large conker and is now a 23er.

 

Actually I shared a few too many beers with him on Easter Sunday and we were both as pickled as a vinegared conker.

[Dominic M]

.....pickled as a vinegared conker.

Is that the antonym to "sober as a judge"?

[BlueStringPudding]

Is that the antonym to "sober as a judge"?

 

[bottle]

I hope none of the Lime trees are anywhere near the boats, I believe they drop a sticky 'sap', difficult to remove.

[Tiny]

I am sure that originally I read there was going to be a new floating landing stage for those using the lock near the entrance but it was under fire from the trip boat owners as it would be in their way.