Residents of Fishmore View, Ludlow are telling housing developers they don’t want a proposed footbridge they say will ruin their quiet cul de sac.
This huge footbridge will be more than 250 metres long (275 yards) and soar 7 metres (23 feet) above the bed of the River Corve. It will link a planned development of up to 215 homes beside the A49 bypass with the play area at Fishmore View.
In the last few days I have conducted a survey of the 33 households most affected by the footbridge on Fishmore View and Corve View.
Almost everyone is against the plans for a footbridge leading from the development to Fishmore View. Twenty-three of the 27 households that responded to my survey said they were resolutely against the bridge. Just one person was in favour and three households had no view either way.
Those against the bridge are worried that it will turn Fishmore View into a car park for dog walkers. The developers are proposing a large riverside park on the banks of the River Corve. The footbridge will create a convenient route from the play area in Fishmore View, already popular with dog walkers, to the new park. That will just lead to cars clogging up this quiet and narrow residential road.
Residents are also concerned that the bridge will be a magnet for antisocial behaviour. They are worried about safety too. The River Corve is fast flowing and very dangerous when it floods. The bridge can only attract more people to the edge of the floodwater and increase the risk of accidents.
The footbridge serves no useful purpose. Fishmore View does not provide a convenient route to the town centre. It’s not a short cut. It should be scrapped.
There are mixed views on whether the housing development should go ahead. Fourteen households are against the development altogether. They are worried about flooding from runoff from the site, sewage disposal and the strain new housing will put on local services such as GP surgeries and dentists.
There is concern that the water flowing off this development will cause Fishmore Brook to back up, flooding housing in Summerfields and Broom Cottage. People are worried that properties on Lower Corve Street will be at a greater risk of flooding once these houses are built.
Eight households are in favour of the development and five have no opinion one way or the other.
I think there should be housing on this site, but the current plans need rewriting. The footbridge to Fishmore View should be scrapped. The developers should also provide a convincing scheme for dealing with water run-off to guarantee that there will be no flooding. That may mean less housing than proposed.