KELBROOK'S old railway bridge is to remain open to heavy vehicles, Lancashire County Council has decided.

Councillors heard there was a very slight risk of the bridge on New Road, between Barnoldswick and Kelbrook, collapsing beneath heavy wagons unless strengthening work was carried out.

But local county councillor David Whipp told the highways, transportation and general purposes sub-committee that imposing a weight restriction on the bridge would have a bad impact on the West Craven area.

"Local businesses, bus services and residents will all suffer if there's a limit," he said.

"There will be a greater risk of injury from big wagons using inappropriate roads than from the chance of collapse."

The sub-committee agreed unanimously to avoid weight limits on the New Road bridge and others in the county, subject to inspections being carried out at three month intervals by qualified engineers to detect deterioration.

County councillor Brian Johnson, chairman of the sub-committee, said: "Weight restrictions on these bridges would have made life very difficult, particularly in rural communities, and could have had serious consequences for local businesses.

"This solution minimises disruption to traffic while taking public safety into account.

"If any deterioration is discovered, immediate action will be taken."

He added: "We consider that the risk to the public would be greater if heavy vehicles used unsuitable alternative routes than if certain bridges are left unrestricted and monitored closely."

Coun Whipp also asked for advisory signs to be erected at Kelbrook's railway bridge, warning that overloaded vehicles could cause collapse, and also for barriers to prevent wagons from parking there.

Last week, Coun Whipp was part of a delegation which visited transport minister Glenda Jackson in a bid to persuade her to allow more money to be spent on tackling the problem of substandard bridges.

"It will cost over £300,000 to replace this bridge, but the Government gave Lancashire only that amount for the whole of the county this year and there are over 100 bridges needing repair," he said.

The whole issue dates back several years to when the Government agreed to increase the weight limit for vehicles - a move which comes into effect in January - and funded a multi-million pound assessment programme to spot problem bridges.

Lancashire is to look at its priority list for repairs in the new year, when government cash allocations are known.

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