HOPES of saving the old railway bridge over Green Lane have risen after Redditch Borough Council said it was prepared to offer it free ‘warts and all’.
The campaign to save the bridge, which nowadays carries a walking and cycling path linking Studley and Redditch, has attracted a petition signed by more than 2,500 people which has been presented to Stratford District Council.
Members of Studley Parish Council were buoyed by the news after receiving confirmation from the Borough Council.
Councillors were clear that, while the parish couldn’t take on the upkeep and maintenance of the bridge its was possible that Stratford District Council or Warwickshire County Council could take it on.
Coun Paul Beaman said: “It’s a quirk of politics that the bridge has ended up in Redditch when it’s in Warwickshire but if we could get an agreement with the District or County that would be by far the best option.”
District Councillor Peter Hencher-Serafin (Lib Dem, Studley and Mappleborough Green) who also sits as a Parish Councillor and has championed the cause, said he would approach the two authorities to ask if they could help.