A CAMPAIGN is underway to prove a bridge across the River Wye has been a well-used footpath.

Users of the Black Bridge at Lydbrook are being urged to fill in forms that will be sent to Gloucestershire County Council.

The bridge has been closed all summer because of safety concerns but it is feared the closure could become permanent.

Lydbrook Parish Council is distributing the forms as part of a campaign to get the bridge re-opened.

Chair of the parish council, Rachel Mowatt said: “The bridge is a valuable resource for tourism within Lydbrook and has now been closed for the entire summer.

“Local business on both sides of the Wye have suffered substantial losses because of this and a huge barrier has been erected on the Lydbrook side which looks pretty permanent.

“Upon enquiring, one local man walking his dog was told the bridge is to be dismantled by order of the (county) council.

“We need to stop any permanent closure or dismantling and the bridge needs repairing.

“At a time when much is being made in the media of other historic River Wye bridges, why is this important and much-loved Lydbrook monument under threat?”

Around 20 people gathered at the bridge to show their support for re-opening the crossing, including Andrew Blake of the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and district councillors Andrew Gardiner and Bruce Hogan.

Mr Blake said the AONB would like to see the Gloucestershire half of the bridge acknowledged as a right of way – as it is on the Herefordshire side.

He said: “What they have discovered is that there are sleepers resting on the girders and the flanges of the girders are resting on a bit of rust rather than solid metal. That is why they had to close the bridge.

“The aspiration would be to re-deck the main part where the railway is with a two-to-three metre-wide carriageway to restore the original route.

“There is no money to take the bridge down because there is no money to repair the bridge.

“If they had the money to take the bridge down, they would spend it on repairing it instead.”

Cllr Bruce Hogan (Lab, Lydbrook and Ruardean) said: “It is absolutely crucial it doesn’t remain closed – not just for the viability of the youth hostel across the river but for the whole integrity of the Wye Valley as a walkway.”

His fellow ward councillor, Independent Andrew Gardiner, said: “I think it is wonderful that Lydbrook Parish Council has taken up the gauntlet on this.

“Unless there is a massive demonstration, you are going to lose out dramatically.”

The forms are available from Lydbrook shop or from the Lydbrook Life Facebook page.

They will be sent to Shire Hall after the parish council meeting on Monday, September 12 to which the county council’s Cabinet member for highways, Cllr Vernon Smith, has been invited.

A spokeswoman for Gloucestershire County Council said no decision on the future of the bridge would be taken until a report on its condition had been received.