No bridge for the Avon

THOUGH the footings have been constructed for a bridge across the river at Bradford-on-Avon, it seems unlikely that it will ever be built.

There is little doubt that a bridge is wanted, but people just cannot decide what form it should take, so the council has finally washed its hands of it, and decided there will be no bridge, Alan Tilbury reveals.

Various fractions

It was four years ago that the decision was first made to construct a bridge across the river, close to where a packhorse bridge originally stood, but during all this time the various factions have argued as to the type of bridge.

Councillors, discouraged by the endless bickering, decided by seven to two that they have had enough, and there will be no bridge built, even though the footings are in the final stages of being constructed by Kingston Mill.

The plan was for a  mini-suspension bridge with a 60ft high metal column, but it was its rather modernist aspect that many people objected to, with the 'war' raging for three and a half years.

So even though the council received permission to build the bridge at a cost of £1 million, a poll came down against it, so the whole scheme has been given up, and all that remains is the old narrow Town Bridge, pictured above.