Plans to replace much loved pontoon bridge at Peterborough's Ferry Meadows revealed

Nene Park Trust is developing designs for a new bridge to replace the current Pontoon Bridge with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

These plans have been released to visitors ahead of submission to Peterborough City Council Planning Department and the Trust is keen to hear feedback via a consultation survey.

The new bridge forms part of a range of activities and improvements being developed as part of the Trust’s Your Community Greenspace project.

The project is currently in the development phase, which means the Trust has received funds from the National Lottery to develop ideas, ahead of submitting a second phase application in

March 2021. The Trust will find out if they are successful in the summer, beginning the proposed five-year project in autumn 2021.

Greg Higby, Park Manager for Nene Park Trust said “It’s great news that we are progressing plans for the replacement of Pontoon Bridge which is such a key crossing point in the Park.

"We really hope the public and planners like the design and the National Lottery Heritage Fund approve the project for funding!”

The new bridge will replace the current Pontoon Bridge, a much-loved bridge but one that has needed substantial maintenance and repairs after its 30 year life to keep it open for use.

Replacing a bridge is no simple matter, particularly in such a significant location in the Park.

Nene Park Trust listened to feedback from a variety of sources on what people like about the current bridge, what issues there are with it and what could be achieved with a new bridge.

The Trust worked hard to identify a designer who could bring both simple engineering and quality design to the project within a limited budget and chose designer Chris Brammall,

highly regarded as one of the leading metalworkers in the UK (https://cb-arts.co.uk/).

In addition to the new bridge, Your Community Greenspace project also involves improvements to the Ferry Meadows welcome area and toilets near the Visitor Centre; further improvements to the Lynch Lake Community Hub and expanding the facilities for volunteers, including setting up a Nene Park plant nursery and some new indoor spaces for

volunteers to work in and relax.

Planning applications will also be submitted for these where required, over the coming weeks.

To find out more about the proposed designs for these new developments, please visit www.nenepark.org.uk/your-community-greenspace-capital-works where there is also a link to a survey where visitors can share their views

Andrew MacDermott, Head of Development for Nene Park Trust said, “We have worked hard as a team over a challenging year to work with community partners to develop this project.

Pontoon Bridge is just one element of this project and it is great to now be releasing the designs. The wider project which strives to connect the Park with all the communities of

Peterborough, improving our volunteering, activities and events offer, is really exciting and we have our fingers crossed that with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund we

will soon be getting started!”