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Broadwater Path taking shape at last

Broadwater Path – Weybridge Public Footpath 40

Broadwater Path — a picturesque walk along the edge of Broadwater lake — is at long last becoming a properly surfaced reality. The path runs through the tranquil Green Belt countryside between Grenside Road, Weybridge and Cowey Sale (Walton Bridge). Work to lay the crushed stone surface started this month, and should be completed by mid September.

At the time of writing, nearly half the length has already been surfaced, and it looks superb — a good solid surface where before there was tangled undergrowth and mud. It will be a wonderful lasting asset for our community.

Broadwater Path surfacing in progress July 2017

The surfacing is possible thanks to Community Infrastructure Levy funding secured from Elmbridge Borough Council.

The formal dedication of the public footpath by Surrey County Council was complete by the start of this year, after over 15 years of local effort to make it happen.

Broadwater Path is more than a walk though beautiful scenery — the dedication of the public footpath opens the way for public funding to help conserve the historic Broadwater lake, which has been silting up badly in recent years. We can now look forward with greater confidence to this priceless local feature being enjoyed by future generations.

The final agreed official route of Broadwater Path

Broadwater Path one step away

SCHOOL DECISION DELAY

Fourteen years of effort by local residents and councillors have gone into getting agreement and funding for the Broadwater Path, along the edge of Broadwater Lake. As well as being a magnificent facility for the community, the path will help ensure the future of the lake itself. But there is an unexpected last minute obstacle.

Just as Surrey County Council was poised to complete formal dedication of Footpath 40 (Broadwater Path) in April 2016 and to begin work on laying the surface (with CIL funding agreed by Elmbridge BC), local residents were dismayed to learn that St George’s Weybridge had decided to oppose dedication of the path across its newly acquired land, despite a previous Deed of Planning Obligation.

So everything is on hold, except the continuing decline of the lake.

Broadwater Lake is progressively silting up and desperately in need of substantial dredging works and maintenance. Formalising public access to the lakeside will do more than simply give walkers a better path: it will open the way to public funding for maintaining this historically significant lake and exceptional local natural environment.

Strong local opinion

Local community groups have lobbied the school, seeking a change of mind. On 21 April 2016, PPDRA Chair Miles Macleod, presented a comprehensive case for permitting the dedication – you can download a copy of the PPDRA Broadwater Path Submission to School Governors here. You can also download the maps and plans. As you can read in the submission, the path may possibly be formalised with or without the school’s agreement, but school consent would greatly reduce the unexpected delay.

Subsequently the school has informally suggested a possibility of permitting a re-routed path. This would involve a diversion away from the lakeside before the school land, and along the paved lane from the health club.

In sounding this out, we have heard some strongly expressed views that the school should permit the original lakeside route. At our May PPDRA Committee meeting, after extended consideration of matter and of the school’s alternative route proposal, the view of the committee was strongly in favour of continuing to press for dedication of Broadwater Path along its original proposed route. We also agreed to continue seeking further views from the local community.

The path alongside Broadwater has been used informally and unopposed for as long as anyone can remember. Formalisation of the path alongside Broadwater Lake would bring benefits for the school as well as the community.

What are your views? Please do take a look at the facts set out in o ur submission.

Note: The picture on this page shows the new land purchased by the school in red, the Broadwater Path (proposed Footpath 40) in green, and Footpath 36 (which separates the old and new school land) in yellow.

Weybridge riverside access restored

Last November we publicised the continuing lack of access to a stretch of our local riverside – fenced off from the public since the moorings were concreted in 2009. This January, after more than five years, the ‘temporary’ paling and mesh fence was at last removed, and riverbank access restored.

The picture below shows the riverbank reopened. We think removing the fence and undergrowth is a positive step — the view is restored, and people can walk or sit on the riverbank again. Although perhaps a tree or two would be nice?

The sorry state of the riverbank had been a growing concern to local residents, with tangled undergrowth obstructing views of the Thames – here it is pictured in autumn 2014, with the paling and wire mesh fence:

And below is how it looked in 2009 before the riverside trees were cut down by the Environment Agency as part of the concrete moorings project:

Here is how we reported the situation in Autumn 2014