Updated: A LEADING campaigner for the restoration of a North Yorkshire bridge has accused the county council of passing the buck for two decades.

Penny Cole also said she feared there would now be a rushed decision, against the interests of those wanting the return of Skewkirk Bridge, which linked Tockwith and Kirk Hammerton over the River Nidd, until it was demolished in 1968.

Penny, who has been involved for decades in the campaign to bring back the bridge, spoke out after The Press revealed on Friday that the 42-year wrangle had entered a crucial phase.

North Yorkshire County Council said it had been in negotiation five years ago with a landowner to erect a new footbridge, but subsequently received an application from the British Horse Society for the bridge to accommodate horses as well as walkers.

It said the application was being investigated as a priority to establish what rights, if any, existed there, and the matter would be considered at a planning and regulatory functions committee meeting in August.

Penny said the council had admitted in court in 1987 that a bridleway existed from Kirk Hammerton to Tockwith and was out of repair, but said it was not responsible for the repair of the structure of the bridge, only the surface.

She said the authority had been under mandate to find out who was responsible and to have the highway repaired.

“For 20 years, successive solicitors from NYCC struggled to pass the buck, though none of them denied the court’s findings,” she said.

She also claimed the footbridge proposed five years ago had been very narrow, and with kissing gates on either end. She said bicycles were essential to enable villagers from both villages to get to the many sports, clubs, school, church and social activities.

“For example, there is no shop or post office in Kirk Hammerton and no train station in Tockwith.”