Bid to raise £50k for bridge at viaduct relaunched

A charity has relaunched its bid to raise £50,000 to build a replacement footbridge next to a landmark Victorian viaduct on the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire border.

The Friends of Bennerley Viaduct had raised £20,000 for the new bridge to cross the River Erewash in the shadow of the viaduct, dubbed the Iron Giant.

After the planning application for the bridge was approved by Erewash Borough Council on 15 January, the charity said it now needed a further £10,000 to reach "match funding" in a National Lottery Heritage Fund bid.

The viaduct reopened in 2022 after being closed for 54 years and the proposed 14.6m (48ft) bridge is part of a plan to attract more visitors to the heritage site.

The group said the footbridge would be the "final chapter" in its campaign to rescue the Grade II* listed structure.

The fundraiser also started following the opening of a new access ramp that replaced steps to improve access to the top platform.

The charity said the funding would pay for materials that would help secure the riverbank the bridge would cross.

"It is a lot of money, but a lot of the money is going towards the repairing of the banking," said the charity's volunteer and partnerships co-ordinator, Hadley Trueman.

"The Victorians shifted the riverbanks when they built the viaduct, so the bank is now eroding to try and go back to where it once was."

The proposed new bridge is also aimed at helping restore a "popular and well-loved" circular route under and over Bennerley Viaduct.

"The bridge was used to access the nature reserve which meanders through the piers of the Iron Giant. Unfortunately, it was deemed unsafe so the access was removed," Trueman added.

"We want to put a new sustainable bridge in its place so we can reconnect the full circular loop back to the top of the viaduct."

If the money is raised, the bridge would be built largely by Friends of Bennerley Viaduct volunteers and students from the University of Kent.

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