Bristol City Council has announced a three month extension to stabilisation works on Cumberland Road.

The works were due to be finished at the end of May but are now expected to be completed by the end of July.

The work, which is being carried out by Griffiths on behalf of Bristol City Council, has encountered a number of problems which have led to the delays.

Having installed the concrete piling to hold the ground in place under the Chocolate Path and a section of the Harbour Railway, Griffiths has been working to rebuild the final sections of river wall but progress has been stifled by spring high tides.


Works are also ongoing to reinstate the highway and railway walls. However, as they have uncovered the railway wall, workers found large sections of it had much more substantial foundations than documented, with large lumps of dense rock and concrete that needed to be excavated, slowing progress.

The completed works will allow the Chocolate Path, heritage railway and highway to be reopened to the public.

Commenting on the delays council member and Cabinet Member for Transport Don Alexander said: "It's disappointing that the repairs will carry on into the summer when we had been expecting to reopen the Chocolate Path in the spring.

"As with any complex engineering project, we can't cut corners. Repairing our Victorian infrastructure often needs bespoke solutions, as in this case.

"We'll keep the pressure up to reopen the Chocolate Path as soon as possible and I'd like to thank everyone once again for bearing with us while we restore this important piece of our city’s harbourside infrastructure, as part of our ongoing multi-million-pound investment."