A NEW river bridge with the 'wow' factor would put Otley on the map, say councillors.

They want to restore the original look of 230-year-old Otley Bridge by removing the 50-year-old footbridge tacked on to its side.

And they hope the replacement footbridge will be something that Otley can be proud of.

Councillor Colin Campbell told Monday's town council Executive Committee meeting that he was appealing to designers to come up with ideas.

He said: "Otley Bridge is obscured by something that was put on badly. If we're going to do this we should do it well. I want people to say let's go to Otley to see the bridge and I want people to say 'wow' when they see it."

Earlier this year, a surveyor from English Heritage described the footbridge as 'ghastly'. A report is expected in the new year including an estimation of having the footbridge removed.

Coun Campbell said: "It is English Heritage's enthusiasm that has moved this along. It now looks like we have a better than 50 per cent chance that we might be able to do this."

He added that English Heritage had indicated funding could be available to pay for the footbridge to be removed and that it would also direct the council towards grants for the replacement.

A spokeswoman for Leeds City Council confirmed that the council was considering major repairs to the footbridge and also the possibility of a new one.

"The repairs are not urgent and we would not be planning to begin any work on the footbridge within the next financial year.

"If we do decide to follow this course of action the footbridge would have to be closed during work. This would not be done without any alterna-