PLANS for a new foot and cycle bridge to be installed over a river in Christchurch have been scrapped.

BCP Council’s planning application for a bridge over the River Mude, where it passes Watermans Park, has been withdrawn.

The three-metre-wide bridge would have provided a new active travel route to the north and northeast of Somerford estate, and provided a link to an off-road route to Mude Valley Nature Reserve.

It was proposed as part of a project by BCP Council’s greenspace development team, working with The Parks Foundation, to ‘revitalise’ the park.

The project was informed by the responses to a survey of parks users and residents of Somerford estate in 2020.

The Daily Echo has contacted BCP Council to ask why the application was withdrawn, and whether there are plans to submit a new scheme.