Cost to reopen popular foot bridge revealed at £3 million

SUMMARY

Reopening a popular Wye Valley footbridge will cost more than £3 million, council chiefs estimate.

The Black Bridge near Lydbrook in the Forest of Dean is a vital part of the 136-mile Wye Valley Walk, which sees tens of thousands of walkers each year.

Also known as Stowfield Viaduct, the bridge links Gloucestershire with Herefordshire over the River Wye but has faced years of closures over the last ten years.

The former Ross and Monmouth Railway bridge was most recently closed in 2024 due to concerns the decking was in extremely poor condition and would represent a danger to life if public access was maintained.

Gloucestershire County Council said at the time they were “working as swiftly as possible to repair the damaged decking and to reopen the bridge”.

However, frustrated by two years of inaction, villagers turned out in force in March this year to demand the repair and reopening of the walkway.

Then in April a public notice was issued officially announcing its temporary closure “to safeguard the health and safety of the public due to a fallen tree and damage caused to the bridge”.

A six-month extension was issued for the closure “because the works are still ongoing”, the notice reads.

Shire Hall chiefs said earlier that same month that a temporary fix to install new scaffolding for a further five years would cost an “eye-watering” £600,000 due to the complex and historic nature of the bridge.

They said their initial plans would be to retain the current structure. However, a new bridge is an option that may be considered to provide a more sustainable structure in keeping with the surrounding area.

Temporary scaffolding had been in place at the bridge since 2018. But this has now been removed to the cost of £43,000 along with the decking.

Reform UK councillor Piers Camp (Drybrook and Lydbrook) asked for updates on when the bridge would be reopened at last week’s full council meeting.

He said the council leader described opening the Black Bridge as a top priority in August 2025 and residents were led to expect it to reopen in spring 2026.

“Spring has passed and the bridge remains closed,” he said.

“Will the cabinet member now give residents a specific date by which the bridge will reopen to pedestrians?”

However, highways cabinet member Mark Harris (LD, Cirencester North with Ermin) said he could not and explained the budget for reopening of the bridge is anticipated to exceed £3 million and would need funding from elsewhere.

“We have constituted to seek funding opportunities however and an outline bid to the Department for Transport’s structure fund is now in the process of being submitted and other bidding opportunities are and will continue to be investigated,” he said in his written reply.

He also said in his answers to Cllr Camp that the bridge is jointly owned with Herefordshire Council and that each authority contributes 50 per cent of the costs for maintenance and repairs.

Cllr Camp said in a follow-up question that the bridge is a recorded public right of way and the council has a statutory duty to keep it open.

“How does it reconcile that duty with leaving it closed and crossing free and what weight does that duty carry in its funding bids?”

Cllr Harris said the council has lots of assets and is about £15.5m short every year.

“So there is this list of prioritising and so on and that’s how unfortunately we square that one,” he said.

“There isn’t the money to do it at the moment and it’s not high up the priority list as some of the other safety issues out there.”

Green Party councillor Sid Phelps, who represents Lydbrook at the Forest of Dean District Council, and has been campaigning to get the bridge opened for years, was shocked by the latest estimate.

He said: “I would welcome a discussion with Cllr Harris and his officers to understand where the frankly eye-watering figure of £3m comes from and how local councillors, residents and hikers might work to re-instate this vital link in the Wye Valley footpath with a real plan rather than wishing on a wing and a prayer.”

When the bridge was first closed in 2016, officials of the then Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty said a full refurbishment for it to last another 50 to 100 years was previously looked at and was estimated to cost around £500,000.