Hey, I recently had an appeal not accepted for Victoria Road Footbridge - Footpath 133
This footbridge is on a local public footpath so I really believe it should be a valid submission. I think that it’s clearly functional for enabling exploration, without it the path wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
Would like others opinions on this as I’ve submitted quite a few footbridges before without any issue and don’t see this being that different.
Regards,
Scott
So there are a couple of things that might count towards making an object like this eligible under exploration criteria..
“Footpath 133” is not a walking trail in my book, it’s just a public right of way, it basically looks like a shortcut across the railway line. I’m probably in a minority among reviewers because it seems just about any public right of way marker gets accepted, but I would not vote for it on that basis.
On the intrinsic interest of the bridge, old maps indicate that it was built between 1881 and 1898. If you can find out the history of the bridge you might be able to make it more interesting. If there’s a plaque visible anywhere on the bridge then that could be a good submission.
Otherwise this is just infrastructure in my view, a way of crossing the railway line without getting killed. Many other footbridges are simply ways of not getting your feet wet, but these often get accepted, you’ll find reviewers have differing opinions on these too.
Bridges are not 100% ers.
I have nominated a few…
This is disappointing because I’ve had public footpath markers (and you can argue the bridge is as important as one of those) accepted on appeal several times (and in general voting too)
I think this appeal decision was incorrect and I hope staff can reconsider. This is plainly a good place to exercise along the public footpaths (which are named trails in the UK) and the bridge is a distinct point on the trail that would be a place to meet someone, maybe pause and take in the view, generally a great spot to highlight in my opinion.
Here are some examples of my footpath submissions. The first is even at a footbridge!
Hello
If it’s an official path on the local council database then link to that - I have included screenshot as one of the web submission images. It is not showing up on the PROW website I use but there seems to be a lack of them around that area so I suspect something odd.
Every footbridge needs to have a case made for it. Railway ones like this are ones I quite like as they definitely connect communities. From a Quick Look there was once a station there = Beeching cut? I would include the history around that as if this is one of remaining evidences of the station.
I have nominated quite a few different footbridges. Some have a load of history some are nothing spectacular but on a PROW are important. I think it’s the function that they serve that aids exploring that in my view meets criteria. It is then up to the submitter to make the case for any individual bridge.
I don’t see any evidence of a station here. Romford is less than half a mile away and there wasn’t an intermediate station here. This is a location like a lot of London suburbs have - the area grew up around the railway and a footbridge was put in to try and improve access.
Unfortunately, this isn’t part of a trail or footpath or anything like that. It is just a footbridge to connect the community. I think that’s eligible and a lot better than some footbridges that get accepted, such as one over a ditch that got its appeal reversed a few months ago.
Might have got mixed up ……I am on a train a reception is poor so loading maps is dodgy
