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Letter: Is New Walnut Bridge Value for Money?
Published on: 30 Oct, 2021
Updated on: 30 Oct, 2021
The new Walnut Bridge being lifted into position. Photo by Arcadis.
From Jeremy Holt
See: Crowds See New Walnut Bridge Installed
Many local residents may have seen the news item on the BBC website World’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge to open in Portugal – BBC News about a 500m pedestrian bridge built in rugged countryside in Portugal reportedly at a cost of just £1.9 million.
I wonder if they like me question why the Walnut Tree Close bridge which is much smaller in a much more hospitable location has cost more. Does our council deliver value for money?
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Martin Elliott
October 30, 2021 at 2:14 pm
A bridge with ‘better’ access, condemned for still mixing foot and cycle traffic, designed with sharp turns on ramps that will obstruct cyclists.
Then, part way through, £0.5 million transferred from the transport capital budget for “landscaping” what one councillor called “a grotty cut through”. Back then Bedford Wharf extended South to the Garages; now halved to the roadway.
We were told the plaza will become a “meeting place”. Then GBC leased the empty Old Orleans to The Odeon. So where will, apart from The Odeon, the attraction be, other than poorly served travellers on rail to bus services?
Surely that should have been planned by now. Or are they planning to reuse some container shops from The Village?
John Schluter
October 30, 2021 at 9:00 pm
I believe this bridge was partially funded by the EU. Shame we left. https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/newsroom/news/2021/05/21-05-2021-in-portugal-eu-funds-longest-pedestrian-suspension-bridge-in-the-world
John Perkins
October 31, 2021 at 2:45 pm
The question posed was about cost, not subsidy.
Even if the €800,000 EBRD subsidy is added to the €2.3 million Euro cost quoted by the BBC, the magnificent bridge in Portugal still cost less than two-thirds of the tiny Walnut Bridge.
James Tomalin
November 4, 2021 at 11:09 am
In Portugal you see the result of determined focus, vision and purpose, an approach one could never accuse Guildford Council of possessing.