An historic village bridge could be made pedestrian and cycle only after major structural concerns were discovered.

It is one of the options being considered for Barston Bridge which runs over the River Blythe.

The bridge dates back to 1859 and carries Barston Lane over the river to the east of the village of Barston.

During inspections carried out by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council officers significant deterioration of the bridge was identified.

The bridge previously had a load capacity of ten tonnes placed on it but the new assessment led to the conclusion it can now only take three tonnes.

With the bridge's future now in the spotlight council officers are recommending a public consultation is launched with two key options on the table:

• Replacing the bridge with a structure capable of "full highway loading at 40 tonnes capacity".
• Close the route to through vehicle traffic converting it to a bridge for walkers and cyclists

A report for councillors said the route – which connects the A432 to Knowle Road – was used as a cut-through by around 1,050 vehicles per day across the working week.

Officers said it was regularly used by farmers during harvests but there were two alternative routes available to them without size and weight restrictions.

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"The bridge itself is not suitable for two-way traffic and has poor driver visibility," the report said.

"This has resulted in multiple bridge strikes where the north parapet had to be retrieved from the river and reconstructed.

"The most recent of these incidents occurred in 2020 where, following the cumulative effect of multiple strikes, repair costs were circa £45,000."

Flooding at the location was also mentioned with the bridge having to be closed at the times water overtops the bridge until levels drop.

Officers added: "Repairing the existing structure would improve the durability of the structure but would not increase loading capacity sufficiently, and a weight limit would still be required.

"This would only prolong the inevitable requirement to replace the structure in the future while requiring ongoing maintenance in the meantime."

(Header image by Richard Law via geograph.org.uk)