Fencing under the railway arches on Gloucester Road

[whole diary]

[Bmblbzzz]

I noticed today that the old, dilapidated chain link fence at the bottom of the embankment under the Arches on Gloucester Rd, just between Redland and Montpellier stations, has been replaced with steel stake fencing in "Network Rail green". There have been cases of homeless people setting up camp on the land under one of the arches on Eastfield Rd for a few years ^ about a year ago one of the local councillors claimed to have "solved the homelessness problem" by means of getting the police to move a few people on ^ so I don't know if the new fence is in (rather delayed) response to that or a part of ongoing maintenance or something else. In fact, a tent or "bender" is still there, though I couldn't tell whether anyone is living in it. But I did notice that the new fence has been erected a couple of feet in from the old one, which seemed to be on the perimeter of NR^» (Network Rail - home page) land (right on the edge of the embankment, on top of the wall at the side of the road). Is there a reason for this? Just easier? It does leave a gap between the fence and a light industrial building there, just wide enough for a person to squeeze through, which seems counter-intuitive at best if the idea is to keep people off railway land.

[TonyK]

I'll take a nosey next time I'm there. Trespass has long been an issue there, as the graffiti shows. I have seen other little encampments in other hidden nooks and crannies around Bristol, a sign of the times, I suppose.