Confirmed: Historic Newlay Bridge to close for one week

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History: Newlay Bridge dates back to 1819, Photo: Jill Buckley

Painting work will lead to historic Newlay Bridge being closed for up to a week during the summer holidays, it’s been confirmed.

As previously reported the bridge celebrates its 200th birthday next year and Leeds City Council is aiming to give the Grade ll* listed bridge a lick of paint on its underside to preserve it for the future.

A letter sent to Newlay residents and local councillors by senior engineer Michael Metzler said the current proposal is to carry out works starting in July 2018, and the works will take approximately 12 – 14 weeks. He said:

“For the majority of the works the footway will generally be narrowed to approximately 1.2m width over up to one third of the length of the bridge at a time. However in order to waterproof the bridge we will need to close it to pedestrians for a period of up to one week.

“We are aware the footbridge is well used and the diversion route is long and so we have programmed this one-week closure to coincide with the school summer holidays to try to minimise its impact.”

The council intends to consult with local residents about the works in the next few months, with increased publicity undertaken prior to the start of the works.

Council chiefs are importing special paint from Canada at a cost of £15,000 to preserve the bridge. The bridge has recently undergone surveys to see if it was damaged during the Boxing Day floods of 2015. The bridge also closed temporarily last summer to allow scour investigations to take place.

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