Pupils call for collapsed bridge to be rebuilt

School pupils have called for a bridge in north Shropshire to be rebuilt more than a decade after it collapsed, saying it would improve safety in the area.

Since Adcote Bridge was damaged in storms in 2014, teenage boarders at Adcote School for Girls have had to walk along roads without paths to access the nearby village of Baschurch, where they go to the shop and catch a bus.

Shropshire Council said it had previously attempted to rebuild the bridge, but said it had faced local opposition.

Some residents in the area told the BBC they wanted the public footpath and bridleway to be removed to protect their privacy and security.

However, 15-year-old Adcote pupil Niso has started a petition in an attempt to reinstate the bridge and has written to Little Ness and Great Ness Parish Council.

She said using the path "would be a really good opportunity to gain our independence".

Staff at the independent school said in the past, the footpath over the bridge was used by older boarders to get to Baschurch, two miles away.

Currently, pupils are chaperoned there along the road by three members of staff wearing hi-vis clothing, according to head teacher Nicola Tribe.

"Cars travel quickly along the lanes where there is a national speed limit, and there are tractors too. Our major concern is that the girls are safe," she said.

People living near the collapsed sandstone bridge told the BBC they did not want the path to be reinstated.

Originally, they opposed the design of the steel replacement bridge and wanted it to be replaced "like for like".

However, because it has taken so long, they now want the right of way to be removed altogether as it would impact their "privacy, security and safety".

Minutes from a strategy board meeting in 2018 reveal councillors were told the project had been "held up by changes at Shropshire Council" but that plans had since been approved and funding was in place.

A subsequent letter from the local authority to the parish council assured the work would be completed in July 2020.

However, the local authority has since said work was stopped due to opposition from a local landowner.

Attempts to secure an injunction against them in 2021 subsequently failed, but the local authority has told the BBC it intends to apply once again.

The BBC has attempted to contact the landowner involved, but has been unable to do so.

Another landowner in the area, Dave Mumford, simply said the footpath should be removed as, "it hasn't been a right of way for 12 years now".

Shropshire Council confirmed it had "received an application seeking to extinguish (remove) several public rights of way near Adcote Mill".

"This includes the two bridleways that pass across the River Perry, one via a ford and the other via the bridge. This application is currently being processed," it said.

"The public will be given an opportunity to make representations should the application progress to a public consultation."

Shropshire councillor Robert Jones, who covers Ruyton and Baschurch, said it was a right of way, established in law, and should be restored.

Ed Potter, the councillor for Loton, on the Adcote side of the river, said residents who were opposed to the scheme were hoping new government guidance on rights of way would mean they had a case for removing the route.

He said it could also cost the council "tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds" to replace the bridge, which the cash-strapped authority "can't afford".

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