Bridge ownership mystery delays access improvements

Campaigners have called for better disabled access to a footbridge in a Leeds beauty spot.

But the issue is complicated by a mystery over who actually owns Skelton Grange Bridge, which stands a short walk from Rothwell Country Park and spans the Aire and Calder Navigation.

The slope up to the bridge on one side of the canal is unpaved, excessively steep and littered with shards of brick and stone, making it extremely difficult for wheelchair users, prams and bikes to navigate it.

But the Canal & River Trust and energy firm Npower have denied claims from the government that each of them is responsible for the bridge and the immediate land around it.

David Titchmarsh, from the charity Open Country - which campaigns for better access to the countryside for disabled people - said the surface next to the bridge was a "nightmare".

Titchmarsh, who uses a bike to travel through the area as he cannot walk beyond a short distance, said: "It starts off as a fairly light gradient but as it comes up the slope gets steeper. You get a lot of rocks, boulders and half bricks sticking out of it.

"It's quite rough. From a cycling and wheeling point of view it's a bit of a nightmare.

"If it could be (made) the same gradient all the way up and have a decent surface to it that would improve things markedly."

Rothwell councillor Stewart Golton has spent several months trying to pin down who actually owns the bridge, which at one time ran over a railway line which was later closed.

A letter he received from Rail Minister Lord Hendy, which has been shown to the BBC, initially suggested that the bridge was under the care and management of the Canal & River Trust (CRT).

The charity, however, said it was not responsible for the bridge, although it added that it was "actively supporting efforts" to improve accessibility in the area.

A second letter from Lord Hendy to Golton then said that after further investigation it was believed Npower owned the bridge, but the energy firm told the BBC it had no records to confirm that.

Golton said: "We're at an impasse and we need to get this sorted once and for all, because the disabled people in my community and the wider city can't wait to get access to something that should be theirs by right.

"This bridge is the missing link in a really ambitious network of footpaths which should be fully accerssible to the disabled, people on bikes and people just wanting to use the area as a leisure area."

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