FOURTH ACCIDENT ON NEWHAM TRAIL 25 FEBRUARY 2026
On Wednesday 25th of February around 7.30pm a runner crossed the trail on Lighterage Hill without looking and collided with an oncoming vehicle coming down Lighterage Hill. Fortunately both runner, driver and passenger are alright. This is the fourth serious accident at the same location. Newham BID brought this to the attention of the Devon & Cornwall Police, local MP, Head of Transport, Truro City Council, Truro Loops and Cornwall Council Highways. Highways are now intending to improve visibility at the junction. From Newham BID's perspective a more robust safety barrier with latch would be preferred and make the trail safer for all to use.
BRIDGE ACCESS – DECEMBER 2025 TO FEBRUARY 2026
According to the Truro Town Deal media release 8th December, Newham BID understands that alongside planning consent for the bridge, there will be a submission of a pre-application for a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) to the Department for Transport. The TWAO is required to alter the rights of navigation for the Truro River and is an extensive piece of work requiring surveys to inform an Environmental Statement. It is anticipated that the full application for the TWAO will be submitted spring 2026. Newham BID understands that it can take up to two years for the TWAO to be granted.
In order to account for the extended period required for environmental and statutory approvals, Cornwall Council has taken steps to safeguard the delivery of Lighterage Bridge beyond the spending period for Town Deal funding. With a squeeze on local authority spending, it is not clear where the additional funding will come from.
Newham BID awaits further information on the highways access to the bridge and the opportunity to object; our understanding is that the diagonal access plan remains as part of the project which Newham BID strongly believes to be highly unsafe.
Newham BID continues to apply pressure with officers and councillors and will exercise our right to object at Truro City Council meetings and Cornwall Council meetings when the revised planning application is considered. Truro City Council previously refused to give their consent for the initial planning application submitted in August 2024 before it was withdrawn in June 2025.
Newham BID have been successful in
lobbying Vistry to resolve draining issues which caused mud to cascade down
Higher Newham Lane in Summer 2025 and January 2026. Vistry have also agreed to place a staggered barrier
at the end of the pathway and will allow Newham to place a sign there warning
residents that they are entering an industrial estate at their own risk.
Newham BID is concerned about Cornwall Council’s shared use footway/cycle way under construction to be used by residents of the new housing estate, The Gwel. Newham BID representatives have met with Cornwall Council Highways Officer along with Cllr Dan Rogerson and Cllr Rob Nolan to push for a staggered barrier to alert cyclists to the proximity of the slip road used by heavy traffic exiting Newham. So far, the proposal is to use signage alerting cyclists to the need to dismount and rumble strips; Newham BID does not believe this provides enough of a safety measure.
Newham BID representatives welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Dan Rogerson on 4th September to discuss the access issues on site. Cllr Rogerson also visited MacSalvors and took up the opportunity to ride in a crane and view the safety issues highlighted from the perspective of a HGV driver.
Further information was sent to Cllr Dan Rogerson following the meeting, including the TPA Assessment and a link to our film. We appreciate Cllr Rogerson’s time and the opportunity to give him key information about the importance and economic worth of Newham Industrial Estate. We reiterated that Newham BID is neutral on the bridge but objects to the access associated with the bridge and has taken issue with Cornwall Council’s Road Safety Audit which is also found to be flawed by experienced transport consultants, TPA.
Newham BID remains of the view that Cornwall Council should provide a separate footpath and widen the road to ensure there is safe and suitable access for all; a solution of a cantilevered path alongside a widened road was the Council’s own proposal in a feasibility study carried out during 2015/16 and is available to read at the link under Road Narrowing Story.
During the summer of 2025, Newham BID understands that the bridge planning application was withdrawn: https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/25250048.newham-bridge-plan-withdrawn-build-cheaper-option/ and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2ky47j3zjo#:~:text=A%20planning%20application%20for%20a,the%20latest%20news%20for%20Cornwall
Newham BID understands that Cornwall Council commissioned a bridge expert to reconsider the design of the bridge following rising costs leading to a shortfall in the Town Deal Budget. Whilst Cornwall Council had agreed to allocate funds from its Active Travel budget, the consultant was invited to look at a swing rather than a lifting bridge which it was hoped would be a cheaper solution. Press reports suggest that Cornwall Council has wasted more than £1million on considering the lifting bridge option which has seemingly been abandoned.
Alongside the costs issue, Newham BID understood that the manual operation and maintenance of the bridge have not been considered; it is not clear who will operate the bridge or who will pick up the costs of this.
Furthermore, it would appear that mariners have not been consulted. Newham BID understands that the Port of Truro Stakeholder Group that represents maritime interests of river users has expressed serious concerns over the safety of craft negotiating a bridge in the absence of suitable waiting pontoons or other arrangements.
Newham BID does not object to the bridge but to the access arrangements as per the information for March and June 2025 below.
Cornwall Council met with Newham businesses on 25th February 2025 to present their access proposals associated with the proposed lifting bridge at Lighterage Quay, part of the Truro Loops scheme, funded via Truro Town Deal, an economic programme. The access proposals, first seen by businesses in June 2024, focus on the busy Lighterage Hill/Newham Road junction; the Council's proposal is to bring pedestrians and cyclists of all ages and abilities from the Newham Trail, down Lighterage Hill and across Newham Road to access the new bridge. Cyclists and pedestrians wishing to access the bridge from Truro City Centre will most likely take the shortest route along Newham Road where the road is narrow and winds rather than take the steep climb up Gas Hill to access the trail.
In Newham BID's opinion, cyclists and pedestrians will find themselves in conflict with road users including HGVs accessing industrial premises located at the far end of Newham. All businesses attending both the June and February meetings have serious concerns about the safety of the designed scheme and the impact it will have on our trading estate. We have repeatedly asked Cornwall Council to consider segregating pedestrians and cyclists whilst widening and repairing the road, a scheme that was on the Council's own transport plan for more than a decade.
Newham BID are neutral on the bridge as a project but are against the access proposals presented. We understand that the road safety audit for the Council's preferred scheme has been endorsed by the Highways Team and will be submitted as part of the planning application this Spring. Three statutory objections have been submitted regarding the bridge from Truro City Council (on safety grounds similar to Newham BID), Natural England and The Environment Agency. The Police also had concerns about the scheme.
The documents are below and the road safety audit which flags serious risks and the visuals can be seen here.
Newham BID have commissioned experienced transport consultants, TPA, to assess Cornwall Council’s proposals including their safety audit. To read their assessment please click here.
The press release can be seen here. The article used at Cornwall Live can be readhere. Newham BID issued a press release here in early June 2025 and made a film highlighting concerns.
The planning application can be viewed here: https://planning.cornwall.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=SG1PDGFGHL100
Following Newham BID’s representation at Truro City Council’s planning committee in March 2025, councillors voted to object to the planning application on similar grounds to Newham BID, that of safety. This article references their objection: https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/25018345.lifting-bridge-truro-operational-design-changes/
Newham BID was originally established in 2013 following widespread interest from businesses to work together to solve an issue: widening the road between Gas Hill and Lighterage Hill to enable safer vehicular access whilst at the same time creating a cantilevered path for cyclists and motorists.
During 2016, CORMAC worked with Newham BID on a preferred solution but due to a lack of funding, the road widening scheme has not been implemented. It has, however, remained on Cornwall Council’s transport programme awaiting a suitable funding opportunity. At various times since 2016, Newham has revisited the potential to realise the CORMAC designed scheme with our statutory partners. Download CORMAC Feasibility Study. At that time and until early 2023, Newham BID was appreciative of CORMAC's support of widening roads on Newham albeit funds had not been identified to do so. The whole Road Narrowing Story can be viewed here.
In 2019, Newham BID supported the principle of Truro Loops and provided input to the consultants on the feasibility study. That support was always on the proviso that the needs and requirements of businesses operating on a busy industrial estate were observed and respected and that safety was paramount to any proposals.
Newham BID delivers a range of projects and services as well as representing its levy paying businesses. Newham is a welcoming community where businesses appreciate that a riverside location and nearby Newham Trail encourages people to visit the area.
During 2022, following an award of £23.6M for Truro from the Town Deal Fund, Cornwall Council submitted a proposal for a footpath/cycle way between Gas Hill and Lighterage Hill to link with a proposal for a bridge across to Boscawen Park; this path proposal was for a footpath in the verge which had previously been discarded as being unsafe by the statutory authorities themselves in favour of the road widening scheme mentioned above.
