Wessex Water has submitted a planning application for permission to construct a temporary vehicle access point into the Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve from Bradley Stoke Way.
The access is needed to allow vehicles to reach a works compound that is to be set up near the ‘duck pond’, from where a tunnel for a new sewer is to be dug to a point on the other side of the M4 motorway.
The work forms part of a new 5km-long addition to the Frome Valley Relief Sewer (FVRS), which was started in the early 1990s.
The access point is on the east side of Bradley Stoke Way, close to where it crosses over the Stoke Brook. It will link Bradley Stoke Way with Concorde Way, the shared used footpath and cycleway which leads down into the nature reserve near the road bridge.
Permission is being sought to create the tarmacked access point for a period of 20 weeks, after which the highway verge will be restored to its current condition.
Public consultation on the planning application runs until 17th March.
In related news, South Gloucestershire Council has posted notices in the nature reserve stating that scrub clearance work associated with the FVRS project will commence this Monday (6th March).
A plan on the notice shows the area of work as being along the track between the Bradley Stoke Way road bridge and the ‘duck pond’.
The notices states:
“During these [Wessex Water’s FVRS] works, the trackway will be used by vehicles on a daily basis. In order to maintain safe public accessing the local nature reserve, a temporary pathway is being constructed.”
“The area will be reinstated once the works are completed in autumn 2017. Grassy areas will be reseeded and trees planted.”
The clearance work is expected to take “no more than two weeks”.
Wessex Water previously said that its tunnelling work in the nature reserve will start on 24th April 2017 and last for approximately six months.
Above: Plan showing details of the proposed temporary access point off Bradley Stoke Way. Refer to the planning application for a full-size version.