National Highways must restore a historic road bridge over a disused railway line say local council planners.
West Norfolk Council planners have ordered the government company, which is responsible for highways and A-roads in England, to undo the infill work it did in 2021 on Congham Bridge, on the former line between Lynn and Fakenham in the east of England. National Highways applied for retrospective planning permission for the infill, but at a meeting yesterday planners unanimously voted not to grant this.
The bridge features curved wingwalls and was built in the 1920s by William Marriott, engineer of the Midland and Great Northern Railway. The Heritage Rail Group, an alliance of walking, cycling and heritage campaigners, engineers and greenway developers, opposed National Highways’ application.
In June 2022 planners in Eden, Cumbria, north west England, denied retrospective planning permission for the infill of an 1862 masonry arch bridge in Great Musgrave (link opens in new tab).
