Dartford council to close Overy Street bridge over River Darent for two weeks for £30k repairs

A well-used footbridge is to be closed for two weeks for £30,000 of repair work - but a council has agreed to replace it with a new £2 million-plus structure.

Connecting Overy Street and Station Approach, the bridge over the River Darent in Dartford is used by more than 3,000 people every weekday, according to the local authority.

Dartford council has come under fire for not installing a new one years ago but leaders say they have never had the money to pay for it.

A new bridge is likely to cost more than £2m.

“The existing timber footbridge built in the late 1980s needed regular remedial repairs due to its age and materials and required substantial work in 2015, which caused considerable inconvenience during its 10-week closure,” council documents say.

“More recently, in 2025, further short-term repairs were carried out.

“The bridge failed to enhance the River Darent and the riverside path, and could not be used by wheelchair users, people with mobility issues, pushchairs and cycles.”

The council’s cabinet met on January 22 to decide what to do about the ailing structure, which is just yards from the civic centre and accessed via a path running alongside a car park for DIY store Wickes.

It agreed, in principle, to replace the bridge using the results of a feasibility study on how to proceed carried out in 2024.

The preferred option identified would see the construction of a timber “half-through” footbridge, previously calculated to cost just over £2m.

A council spokesperson explained: “A detailed design must be procured first before an updated cost estimate can be shared.

“In the meantime, we’ll be conducting repairs which will cost an estimated £30,000.

“This includes repairs to the timber balusters, replacing and reinforcing the timber retaining walls to the access ramps, tarmac repairs, decoration of the new and existing timber.

“The work is due to start on February 26 and will close the bridge for two weeks, however this is weather permitting.”

The council’s report says the authority had been looking at possible repairs or replacements since at least 2010.

Opposition leader Cllr Jonathon Hawkes (Lab) said: “The report admits that the council has been considering doing this work for 15 years and hasn't done it.

“There’s a question to be asked about whether the now very, very high cost of replacing the bridge is due to the fact the Conservative administration has for a long time chosen not to do the work.”

He added: “It is an extraordinary amount of money, and I think members from all sides were surprised and taken aback by the scale of the cost.

“There is no doubt that it needs doing, it’s falling apart so urgent action is needed to bring the bridge up to standard, make it safe and enhance it.”

However, long-time council leader Cllr Jeremy Kite (Con) stressed that a future replacement would be funded with the assistance of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) cash, which developers contribute to the council.

When the bridge was built, it was not used as much as now, he argued.

“Dartford has now become a much busier place in terms of the station use, it takes a real hammering and frankly it’s not fit for purpose anymore,” Cllr Kite said.

When asked why work wasn’t under way in the early 2010s, Cllr Kite said “The truth is we didn’t have CIL back then, you haven’t got the money to do it, that would have come right from the taxpayer.

“From a consumer and user point of view the bridge has been serviceable for all that time.

“Jonathon will always say they should have done this years ago, but it’s always been operating, we’ve had very few closure days.

“To do it now with the benefit of a third party funding package rather than just from taxpayer money is a good idea.”