The new cycle and footbridge planned for the River Trent from Lady Bay West Bridgford to Trent Basin in Nottingham has been approved in a planning committee meetings today
The next step is for Rushcliffe Borough Council to also approve the scheme which covers some of the land in the borough.
The background to the Waterside Bridge idea
The application land on the north side of the river forms part of the on-going Trent Basin development, which is regenerating this substantially vacant/brownfield land with family housing.
Phases of the Trent Basin development have been completed to the east of the basin and planning permission for further phases of housing development to the north and west of the Basin has also been approved (Ref: 21/02550/POUT – pending completion of the S106 Agreement which is currently in the process of negotiation).
There are industrial warehouse buildings to the west of the basin that are accessed from Poulton Drive. A warehouse building occupied by Flo Skatepark is included within the application site and has also been identified to be redeveloped as part of the future phases of the Trent Basin development.
Rushcliffe
On the south side of the river within Rushcliffe Borough Council’s administrative area there is the Nottinghamshire Sports Club playing fields, which are used by several sporting organisations including Nottingham Corsairs, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and Nottingham Rugby. To the east of the playing fields is The Hook Local Nature Reserve, which is a large area of open space and floodplain.
There is a shared footpath and cycle path along the south side of the river. The residential area of Lady Bay is to the south of The Hook Local Nature Reserve.
Where is the money coming from?
The City Council, in a joint bid with Derby City Council, was successful in securing £161m of funding from the Department of Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund to deliver a programme of transport improvements designed to strengthen connections between major employment sites, upgrade public transport and improve options for people on bike or foot. Included on this programme was a
project to design and build a new cycle and pedestrian bridge over the River Trent in the vicinity of the Waterside area.
In December 2020 the City Council commissioned a feasibility study for a bridge crossing at the three locations identified within the Waterside Supplementary Planning Document. The locations on the north bank of the river were Poulton Drive, Trent Basin, and Trent Lane.
