PLANS for a pedestrian footbridge in Bradford on Avon are on the table again after the council backed a feasibility study.

Bradford town councillors agreed to pledge £2,500 for a £5,000 project, proposed at an area board meeting in May by Cllr Magnus Macdonald.

He wants to improve pedestrian access and safety in the town and proposed the new study to investigate the options for a new footbridge crossing the river, including topographical, geological and feasibility plans.

“The whole point of this is to try and find a consensus, be as open and transparent as possible and get the town behind this to try and solve this crucial issue,” he said.

“Pedestrian safety is extremely important. Last time the bridge talk got very nasty and I want to avoid that.

“We are speaking to a top town planner architect from Labox Design and a very innovative engineer. They have come up with five or six designs for a bridge, looking at what failed last time and improving it and at four times less than a normal consultancy.

“When I first became a councillor three years ago I said I would like to solve this problem and since then I have been working towards this.”

Cllr Macdonald said the next phase will be a series of consultations with interested parties, with a public consultation in January, before a proposed exhibition of designs are displayed in March.

Despite the majority vote, councillors Pam Hyde and Martin Newman opposed the initiative, and members of the Bradford on Avon Bridge Concern Group, which proposed its own bridge design, have also raised doubts about the timing of the study.

“To push for this now is just absurd,” said John Seekings, a Bradford Bridge Concern group member. “My suspicion, not the suspicion of our group, is that this is politically driven by the Liberal Democrat majority council.”

“I believe they want to press on with this study to help in the May elections. In Michelle Donelan’s traffic survey, a new pedestrian bridge got a fair amount of support.”

Previous footbridge plansd were scrapped in 2011 after 57 per cent of residents voted against the plan.

Opponents said the modern suspension bridge, which would have cost £850,000, was not in keeping with the historic town.

The remaining £2,500 for the feasibility study will come from the area board when it has its next meeting in September.