Disability campaigners have criticised Bristol City Council for pressing on with long-awaited repairs to a footbridge even though the work will make it inaccessible to wheelchairs and children's buggies. Cabinet members agreed to spend £1million to fix Kingsweston Iron Bridge on Tuesday, June 6, more than seven-and-a-half years after it was struck by a lorry and had to be shut to pedestrians because it was unsafe.
The funding decision is the culmination of a long saga and was welcomed by Labour and Conservative ward councillors. They have been calling for the reopening of the bridge over Kingsweston Lane, which links Blaise Castle Estate to Kingsweston Fields. The work requires the Grade II-listed structure, built around 1800, to be raised by a metre to prevent another truck hitting it.
But the idea of a ramp for people with mobility problems and parents with prams and pushchairs was rejected as unacceptable by government body Historic England, which protects old buildings and features, because it would have to be 30 metres long. A city council planning committee granted permission in December for the repairs to go ahead without a ramp.
