A FOOTBRIDGE over the A338 is to close for six months as work on a new slip road begins. 

The pedestrian bridge Riverside Avenue and Holdenhurst Village Road in Bournemouth is expected to be closed from April 14. 

BCP Council has said the closure of the ‘Welcome to Bournemouth’ bridge is necessary “to ensure site safety” while construction works are being carried out on the Wessex Fields. 

A spokeswoman for BCP Council said: “The temporary closure of the footbridge is to facilitate construction works at Wessex Fields. 

“These works are to complete an access road from the A338 into the hospital, for use by hospital workers and emergency vehicles.” 

The footbridge is expected to reopen by mid-October, according to BCP Council. 

The 'Welcome to Bournemouth' sign on the bridge was installed by Bournemouth council in 2013 and cost £76,000.

At the time, the Conservative authority said it wanted the sign to be Bournemouth's "Angel of the North" - a landmark that visitors look for as a sign they are almost at their destination. 

But Labour said it was "the biggest two fingers to the taxpayer I have seen in many years" and showed a "total lack of understanding of the plight of the poor from the Tory cabinet member responsible for this obscene expenditure".

Meanwhile, University Hospitals Dorset was given approval by the council last year to build a new slip road on the fields costing up to £4.4m linking the dual carriageway to Royal Bournemouth Hospital. 

However, the slip road will not be for general public use. Instead, the road will only be accessible for staff, deliveries and potentially emergency vehicles.