Repairing an historic bridge used by farmers and commuters could cost a cash-strapped council £2 million.

The future of Barston Bridge, which runs over the River Blythe, is being examined by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. 

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

The route – which connects the A432 to Knowle Road – is used as a cut-through by around 1,050 vehicles per day across the working week.

It previously had a load capacity of 10 tonnes but now has a limit of just three tonnes and was still “deteriorating”, councillors heard.

The authority must decide whether to replace the bridge with a structure capable of “full highway loading at 40 tonnes capacity” or close it to traffic, leaving it accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.

At a council meeting on October 2, council environment boss Cllr Ken Hawkins said: “I have been aware of this for a while, we made the decision to reduce the maximum weight limit a while ago. 

“But even with the lower weight it’s still deteriorating. We can’t put a timescale on it?”

A council officer replied: “In terms of deterioration no.

“The issue is we have placed it under a three tonne load capacity at the moment. If a much larger heavier vehicle goes over that it could deteriorate further.

“We are monitoring it.” 

Cllr Hawkins said: “It’s a shame, I feel for the people there if we go down the route of closing it.”

Cllr Max McLoughlin said: “I know the Tesla model 3, Toyota Prius Prime, Honda Civic – all those are over that weight limit.

“There are not many vehicles you would legally be able to get over there without causing further deterioration.”

The councillor highlighted a report for councillors had said: “Reconstruction comes at a significant cost of circa £2m at today’s prices.”

Cllr McLoughlin said: “If there was no cost associated I would say replace the bridge but £2 million is quite a lot of money when we are looking at the financial challenges the council is facing.”

Cllr Kathyrn Thomas said: “How many people know how much their car weighs?  How many people have we got unknowingly each day breaking that weight limit, driving over it?

“Do we need to close it anyway before the weight causes a problem?” 

Officer Paresh Shingadia, the council’s strategic lead for highways infrastructure said because it was an arch bridge, and the way traffic travelled over, it would not exert over three tonnes of weight on one particular part of the structure.

“So it is a conservative estimate – it is not imminently in danger (of collapse) or anything like that,” the officer said.

“If it’s 11 or 12 tonnes (vehicle crossing) that’s the issue.”

Cllr Samantha Gethen asked: “Who would be more affected (by closure) would it be farmers or residents commuting around the area?”

The officer replied: “The numbers overall (using the bridge) they are not huge significant numbers.

“Farmers are affected, they use that bridge around this time for harvesting.”

Cllr Gethen added: “We need to ensure whatever we do isn’t a detriment to farmers.”

A four-week public consultation on the two options will take place with the matter then set to go to a future cabinet meeting.