A BRIDGE connecting Wimborne’s Waitrose with the town centre has been unanimously approved by district councillors.

Plans for a footbridge, which one councillor said could be a “bridge too far”, were made a condition for the approval of the supermarket.

But some said the £150,000 pledged by Waitrose in 2009 as part of a section 106 agreement could have been better spent enhancing other parts of the town.

East Dorset District Council’s planning committee heard from one objector at Tuesday’s meeting, Waitrose employee Richard Heading, who lives in Wimborne.

Mr Heading, who does not work in the Wimborne branch of the store, asked for councillors to defer the decision because of flooding issues where the bridge is to be built.

He said: “In the past, we have had severe flooding towards the river in the central area where the path is.

“The branch manager has had to cordon off to stop customers from using it. Two of our customers have even slipped over. My objection is that it is going to be concrete or tarmac on already saturated ground.”

However, development control manager Neil Lancaster said flooding had always been an issue on the land but had not stopped councillors approving an outline planning application for the bridge in 2009.

Cllr Robin Cook said many of the objections registered against the bridge were from East Street traders, who fear customers will be led away from their shops.

“You could say this is a ‘bridge too far’,” he said.

“On balance I think we need it. If you stand on Waitrose’s steps and look towards the Minster it would add something to the attraction of the town as a whole.”

Cllr Jean Hazel said: “I was in Wimborne on Good Friday, and two visitors stopped me and asked me how to get to Waitrose.

“They got to Crown Mead and could not go any further.”

Cllr Derek Burt also said he backed the bridge, calling it “essential” for Wimborne.

In 2011, a petition in favour of the bridge was circulated, which gathered 1,183 signatures.

However, a number of traders posted the same objection to the plans on the council’s website.