The Inland Waterways Association is backing a campaign to save an historic steel girder bridge over the River Stour in Essex.
Essex Highways has proposed demolishing the bridge to replace it with a wider one.
Boxted bridge is in the heart of the Dedham Vale, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a steel girder bridge built in 1897 and an important part of the waterways heritage of the area. The river is popular for navigation by small craft such as canoes and paddleboards.
The IWA believes replacing the bridge with a new and much wider bridge would be harmful to the setting of Boxted Mill. It would result in loss of a structure of intrinsic historic significance. The IWA is suggesting, along with the local community, that the bridge should be repaired and retained, not replaced.
