Target reached!
Our stretch target has already covered the cost of commissioning a highways planning...
Save our Bridge campaign needs your help!
Colchester, United Kingdom
Aim
Help us raise the stretch target of £5250 to cover the costs of detailed preparation and expert representation at Planning Committees
Boxted bridge crosses the River Stour in the heart of the protected Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . The 1897 steel girder humpback bridge is listed as a heritage asset on the Colchester Local Plan and is much loved locally. Two independent engineer's reports say it can be repaired and strengthened (read the Morton Report) but Highways remain intent on their preferred 'nuclear option': to demolish and replace it with a wider, flatter, 'pastiche', standard 40 tonne bridge suitable for HGVs.
The recommendations of Highways own Heritage Assessment, for a conservative approach, have been ignored and they have chosen a 'not recommended' option from their Options Study. No cost benefit analysis has been carried out, the cost would only be available once planning permission is given, but it is likely to be well over £1 million.
Highways say that desk studies show fire engines cannot safely maneuver over the current bridge. A local retired fireman with 27 years experience has refuted this statement and video evidence clearly shows them crossing without difficulty (see video). HGVs ignoring signage and using the route as a shortcut are more of a concern, and should not be encouraged by increasing the bridge's width: all three rural approach roads are single lane with passing places, all totally unsuitable for HGVs, with more substandard bridges over streams nearby. There is little local traffic and the average speed here is 23mph, begging the question: who is this bridge being altered for?
A wider 40 tonne bridge is complete overkill! Listen to Dan Cruickshank, historian, author of Bridges: Heroic Designs that changed the world' talking about Boxted bridge on ITV Anglia
Despite substantial objections to this controversial planning application, including from four Parish Councils, Colchester District Council, our local MP for Harwich and North Essex, twelve heritage bodies including Save Britain's Heritage, and over 7500 people who have signed the petition https://www.change.org/saveboxtedbridge Highways are still determined to push ahead and planning committee meetings are soon to be scheduled. We want to commission a highways planning specialist to make a report to challenge Essex Highways proposal. A summary of the report will then be submitted to the planning departments and officers deciding on the application. Boxted Parish Council has already pledged £1000 to start off the first phase of the review of the documents. Please can you help us to reach our target of £4580 to complete the work? With over 7500 signatories each person need only give a little to make a big difference.
Thank you for your support!
Save our Bridge campaign
This project successfully funded on 28th February 2023