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Campaigners blast bridge demolition plans

Louise Graham/BBC Picture of white barriers and metal fencing with red and white bollards and road signs in front. There is greenery in the background.Louise Graham/BBC
The bridge which crosses the river Stour was built in 1897

Plans to demolish a 127-year-old bridge due to deterioration and replace it with a wider one that can support HGVs have been criticised as "unjustified" by campaigners.

An application was sent to Essex County Council this month that outlines how Boxted Bridge could be knocked down and replaced to reconnect two roads.

Local action group Save Our Bridge has called on the council to instead repair the existing steel girder structure, which is on the Essex and Suffolk border.

A spokesperson for Essex Highways, which submitted the application, said: "There are ongoing discussions with local community representatives, and we are looking at various options available."

Save our Bridge People standing on a bridge and in the water holding protest signs and surrounded by greenery.Save our Bridge
Members of Save our Bridge advocating for the repair of the bridge in June 2021

Boxted Bridge was closed to cars and pedestrians in June 2023 after it was deemed an immediate risk because of the deterioration.

After an inspection in 2018, Essex County Council said the bridge needed to be replaced as it was in a weak position with potentially dangerous flaws.

Campaigners have been fighting to save it ever since and have amassed an 8,000-signature petition.

Save Our Bridge called the latest planning application "unjustified" and added in a statement: "We intend to challenge this application at all levels and as strongly as its sponsors are trying to push it through."

The latest cross-border planning application replaces one first submitted in 2022.

A local resident who lives close to the bridge said it had been the only safe way out when the area flooded multiple times last winter.

"If I wanted to go out, I had to crawl through the barriers. I'd left a car on the other side [of the bridge], which I could wade too," she said.

"One road was about three feet deep, and the other road about a foot deep, but it's the current that goes across both that is way too dangerous."

She said that it should be opened to pedestrians even if cars are banned.

An image of flooding, a partially submerged road, a roadworks sign and greenery.
Flooding on Sky Hall Hill in 2023

Essex County Council said it was reviewing the findings of the previous assessments and would be taking into consideration the current condition of the bridge structure.

A spokesperson said: "We have recently updated documents relating to planning applications.”

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