Maidenhead & Windsor

A Row has blown up over proposals to demolish Maidenhead's landmark historic bridge.

Maidenhead residents are outraged by a plan to replace it with a four lane steel structure.

South Bucks district council-lor John M Thomson, writing in Local Government First, put forward the scheme as a cure for the town's traffic problems.

Speaking to the Express, he said: " I have wasted a large part of my life trying to cross Maidenhead Bridge. It is a real bottleneck."

Mr Thomson said he was serious about the proposals which he had raised with the county highways department.

He said: "They thought it was hilarious. But I am deadly serious. I think this is something which would improve the lot of citizens in the royal borough."

He added: "There is no point in having these medieval structures when you are trying to run a 21st-century road system."

Mr Richard Poad, chairman of Maidenhead Heritage Centre, said: "I am speechless at this idea. I just do not know how someone can be so careless with something which is part of the community's heritage.

"This bridge is an iconic symbol of Maidenhead and of the18th century bridges along the River Thames, it is the most splendid. I am really astonished at this suggestion.

"This bridge was built 229 years ago, during the coaching era, when Maidenhead was going through its first boom. I think that Maidenhead bridge will still be there in 100 years' time, long after the last motor car when all the oil has run out."

He added: "I spent 30 years of my life driving over Maidenhead bridge. I accepted that there were jams at certain times of the day. But the rest of the time it was fine."

But Cllr Mary Rose Gliksten, leader of Windsor and Maidenhead council, said she 'spluttered her coffee over her cat' when she heard of the scheme.

She said: "I was startled when I heard this idea. It is part of one of the most beautiful stretches of riverside in the country. It is also listed."

She added: "It is not the bridge which causes the problem anyway. The traffic builds up because of the roundabout on the Maidenhead side - where the traffic joins the A4 from Cookham."

Mr Thomson, from Hatchgate, Burnham, first became involved in politics when he accepted the job of chief political agent for the Referendum Party from Jimmy Goldsmith. He wrote the party's original strategy.

Maidenhead Bridge was built in 1717 at a cost of £19,000.

A spokesman for English Heritage said: "Maidenhead Bridge is a Grade I listed building which is of national significance."

ic Berkshire ~ Maidenhead