THE landscape of a busy Worcester street will change this weekend after a new footbridge is lowered into place.

The bridge will run over the top of the Butts to link CrownGate to The Hive and will have the same striking gold cladding as the exciting new history and library centre.

The bridge will arrive in the city in a single piece at around 4am on Sunday.

The Butts will be closed from that time to allow workers to lower it into position.

Iain Paul, design manager for project partners Worcestershire County Council and the University of Worcester, said: “It’s clad in the same copper aluminium alloy as the building and the cladding will be perforated and lit from the back so you will see the light shining through it.

"It will create a traffic-free pedestrian route from the city centre to the new library and history centre and later down to Croft Road and the new city campus.”

Mr Paul said the bridge would be accessible from behind the CrownGate car park or via the existing footpath accessed along the side of the bus station from Angel Place.

“The idea has always been to make a much stronger, physical link to the library and make it easier for people to move around.”

He also said that the bridge and the cladding were both made by Midlands companies. The Butts will be re-opened before Monday morning.

The Hive, a £60 million project, will open next July and will house a fully integrated public and university library, the record office, the county’s historic environment and archaeology service and the Worcestershire Hub customer service centre.

Fresh hopes for a basin crossing

THERE are still faint hopes that a new footbridge can be built over Diglis Basin, Worcester, to link homes and businesses.

Ever since work started on regenerating the Diglis area there have been plans to install a new bridge over Lock Two near to the point where the Worcester-Birming-ham canal joins the river Severn. Work on the bridge has never really got off the ground, but talks are now being arranged. At a meeting of Worcester City Council’s planning committee, Alan Coleman, planning manager, said it was written into a section 106 agreement – a deal between a developer and the local planning authority to pay for new facilities in return for being allowed to build – relating to one of Berkeley Homes’ applications that a new footbridge should be installed over Diglis Basin.

However, Mr Coleman said the design of the bridge needs to meet standards set by British Wat-erways and if the organisation does not approve of them then Berkeley Hom-es will have to pay the city council the amount equivalent to the cost of constructing the bridge.

“Matters have become complicated by the fact that British Waterways have now got charitable status and as such they have very strict criteria for new structures over the canal.”

Mr Coleman, who has attended a series of meetings with British Water-ways, mainly related to the renovation of another bridge over the old dock basin in Diglis, said discussions between the charity and the developer are being arranged.

Councillor Andy Rob-erts asked how the money would be used if it is not spent on a new canal footbridge. Mr Coleman said there were a number of projects the cash could go towards, such as upgrading the towpath.