Declaring the new bridge at Victoria Park well and truly open (Pendle Liberal Democrats)

Pendle Liberal Democrats <info@pendlelibdems.org.uk>

Declaring the new bridge at Victoria Park well and truly open

May 4, 2008 12:00 AM

Afzal Anwar Friend of Victoria Park The Liberal Democrat PPC Afzal Anwar, who is one of the Friends of Victoria Park said;

I am proud to be amongst the people who care for our beautiful parks. I joined the friends group last year. It has been a pleasure to work together with other members of the group and park staff. My memories with the Victoria Park go a very long way. I used to come here as a child with my school and parents to feed the ducks. I lived in Pendle street Nelson in my early childhood not very far away from this beautiful place. I feel proud today.

Here is what Councilor Allan Buck the Mayor of Pendle said;

Thank you for inviting me here today for the opening of the new bridge at Victoria Park.

The original bridge over Pendle Water was built in the1930s and over many decades thousands of local people had enjoyed walking across it, to be able to get to all parts of Victoria Park. Unfortunately in 2006 it was discovered that the structure was unsafe and a new bridge was required. The old bridge was closed in September 2006.

This impressive and very stylish new bridge spans 56 feet and has a concrete deck carried on an arched steel frame. It weighs 54 tonnes which is 11 tonnes of steel and 41 tonnes of concrete. The steel is know as weathering steel which develops a thin protective coating layer of dark rust that prevents further corrosion. This is good for the environment and saves on future maintenance costs. The technique of using weather steel is new technology and this bridge is the first in Pendle of this type.

There has been an investment of £150,000 for this special bridge. I should like to thank the Friends of the Park, Park keepers, park staff and Councillors for getting the investment and construction into place. So that today we certainly have a beautiful bridge to be proud of.

Recently I was privileged to be shown around our parks by the Friends of the Parks groups together with the park keepers. Here at Victoria I was shown the many improvements and what was being planned for the future. The commitment of the Friends of Victoria Park impressed me and I encourage everyone to support them in every way about caring for your Park.

We also have lots of great parks in all parts of Pendle and with the very large investments going into them in recent years they are improving very quickly. All across Pendle I was most impressed with the new developments and commitment of everyone involved.

It is my great privilege to declare the new Victoria Park Bridge across Pendle Water well and truly open.