Environment Agency works to a River Thames footbridge between Marlow and Hurley have been compared to the desperate plight of an ill-fated space expedition.

Borough councillors and walking organisations discussed the closure of Temple footbridge at a Local Access Forum (LAF) meeting yesterday evening (November 28).

During the meeting in Maidenhead Town Hall, the LAF resolved to contact the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) for further updates.

In March of this year, Environment Agency surveyors identified that parts of the bridge had ‘deteriorated faster than expected’ and closed it to the public indefinitely.

Bisham Parish councillor Alan Keene, who made the Apollo 13 comparison, backed the motion to make contact with the agency and Defra.

He said: “we should be lobbying them quite forcefully. I think they need to be clear that like Apollo 13 – failure is not an option.

“It [failure] would be an admission that the standard of the crossings that we have on the Thames is gradually deteriorating and I think that’s a bad message to send to the community.”

The ‘failure is not an option’ comment was included in the 1995 film Apollo 13, the story of a NASA spaceship which encountered a catastrophic malfunction and the ground control scramble to ensure astronauts returned safely to Earth.

Council parks and countryside access officer,  Jacqui Wheeler advised an update from the agency said it was ‘hoping’ to have bridge survey results available by Christmas or early January.

These results would then determine the ‘feasibility and scale’ of repair works or whether it was more ‘cost beneficial’ to build a replacement.

A temporary adjustment to the Thames Footpath has been arranged to circumvent the crossing but Jacqui Wheeler said there had been ‘a lot of complaints’.

Steve Gillions from East Berkshire Ramblers, also backed the motion and said that Environment Agency management of the bridge closure had been ‘appalling.’

He added: “I think we should write to them with a series of questions and as part of that we should ask for regular reviews.

“I know they’re short staffed but they are masters of kicking stuff into the long grass and hoping we forget about it.”

Several bridges in the Royal Borough have been under scrutiny including the closed Berry Hill footbridge in Taplow.

Guest speaker at the meeting, Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury councillor Ewan Larcombe (National Flood Prevention Party) said:

“I noticed the Temple footbridge item on your (LAF) agenda I had alarm bells ringing because there’s another half dozen footbridges downstream that have either rotted away or are rotting.”

He highlighted the bridge at Berry Hill which ‘broke some two years ago’ and ‘had not yet been replaced’.

Cllr Larcombe added: “I’m horrified, absolutely horrified about what’s going on here because I can see it happening again.

“I will be keeping a close eye on what’s going on and what the environment agency are doing and not doing.”

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