Up to £27,500 will be spent converting a Kenilworth footbridge into a cycle path after the town council approved plans last week.

The bridge between Clarkes Avenue and Farmer Ward Road will now be converted into a shared use pedestrian and cycle crossing.

Kenilworth Town Council has been looking to create a safe cycling route across the town, with crossing the railway line a major problem in the plans.

"This has been a subject we have been talking about for about 18 months," said Cllr Andrew Milton at last week's full council meeting.

"This was part of the town council's cycling strategy which was to find a safe route across the town east to west that crossed the railway line, because it is such a barrier at the moment.

"There are three bridges across the railway line and only one of them is suitable to be converted to a shared usage cycle path."

The £27,500, which comes from the council's CIL reserves, will be spent on:

• New signage.
• Dropping the kerbs at either end.
• Posts near the entrances.
• Removing railings.
• Cutting down three trees.
• Clearing the bridge of undergrowth and surfacing.
• New markings.

Cllr Milton also said that the bridge is currently overgrown, so there would be no net loss of space to pedestrians.

"It is actually half overgrown at the moment, so where we would be taking space from it would actually be from undergrowth.

"It might seem small but it is actually of quite a big benefit."

Adding tongue in cheek: "And there is potential to connect to other routes for example to K2L, sometime around 2100 when that is actually built."

The scheme received unanimous approval from the town council.

Last week KTC also approved a £10,000 spend from the CIL budget for a feasibility study into moving the 30mph speed limit on Warwick Road.