A YORK footbridge’s rotting timber walkway has still not been replaced, nine months after inspectors warned it was in a very poor condition and immediate action was needed.

Many hundreds of pedestrians and cyclists use Blue Bridge every day to cross the River Foss while walking and pedalling along the side of the Ouse to get to and from the city centre.

But experts commissioned by City of York Council to examine bridges along the Foss and Ouse rivers after the 2015 flooding warned last October about the state of Blue Bridge.

They said in a report, obtained by The Press under the Freedom of Information Act , that the bridge was in "very poor condition due to the state of the timber deck, which requires attention immediately".

Their report, dated Oct 14, 2016, referred to "timber beams rotting/loose" on the transverse beams of the secondary deck and suggested £15,000 needed to be spent on replacing deck timbers.

An engineer also commented: "Needs new deck and painting."

But the same deck is still there today, with the only action taken so far apparently being the installation of new covering along the top of the decking.

The timber has now rotted so badly at the edges of the decking that fragments have simply broken away.

A council spokesman said it had carried out some remedial works to ensure the bridge remained open.

“This included laying a special non-slip covering on the deck boards,” he said.

“It remains our intention to carry out further work, but this has not yet been scheduled.

“We have no concerns about the safety of the bridge.”

Cllr Andy D’Agorne, whose Fishergate ward includes the bridge, said replacement of the decking should be a priority.

“It needs to be done as soon as possible,” he said.

He said Blue Bridge must be used every day by thousands of pedestrians and cyclists to get to the city centre, and £15,000 seemed a small price to pay for providing a new decking - especially compared to the many millions being spent just a few metres away on upgrading the Foss Barrier and Pumping Station.

He added that he had not been aware of the inspector’s concerns but had noticed for some time that one of the planks of the decking rattled while crossing the bridge.

The Press reported earlier this year that underwater and above ground inspections of the Foss’s bridges had concluded that most were generally in a good condition.

The council said that divers were set later this year to examine bridges over the Ouse - such as Ouse Bridge - to check whether ‘scour’ has occurred at the pier base.

Scour is the riverbed phenomenon which led to the partial collapse of Tadcaster Bridge when the River Wharfe flooded badly in late 2015.