Safety row footbridge demolition dates revealed

The Leazes Footbridge, which crosses the A690 at Durham, is said to be unsafe

Demolition of a footbridge, which was previously halted by a community campaign, is to begin later this month.

Leazes Footbridge, which crosses the A690 at Gilesgate in Durham, was closed last year on health and safety grounds after a review found it was beyond economical repair.

It had been due to be knocked down in August, but that work was paused following a petition from campaigners which gained more than 700 signatures.

Durham County Council has now confirmed demolition will get under way on Sunday 29 September and is expected to take five nights to complete.

A full road closure will be in place from 19:00 until 05:00 each day.

Preparatory works, including making the area secure and erecting scaffolding, will be carried out from Monday 23 September.

Following the removal of the footbridge, its ramps and steps will be knocked down from the week beginning 7 October.

That part of the project is anticipated to take six weeks to complete.

'Near misses'

The council says the bridge is structurally impaired, "not safe for use by pedestrians or cyclists" and does not meet modern accessibility standards.

However, campaigners dispute those claims and say the bridge should be saved.

They have also labelled a new pedestrian crossing, operating at the existing traffic lights on Gilesgate Roundabout, a safety risk.

Debbie Hills, who led the Saves Leazes Footbridge petition, previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "People have had near misses already.

"Cars have not seen the red light and have sped through without seeing people on the crossing.

"Drivers stop at the original set of traffic lights and when you sweep around the corner you are immediately confronted with another set of traffic lights, which you don’t see until the last minute.

"For people using the crossing, it can look like nobody is coming."