OTLEY Bridge has been given a clean bill of health despite its recent battering by floods.

Councillor Sandy Lay (Lib Dem, Otley & Yeadon) asked Leeds City Council about the safety of the structure after two other bridges over the River Wharfe were seriously damaged.

Tadcaster Bridge collapsed altogether on Tuesday, December 29, while Linton Bridge, near Wetherby, suffered structural damage from the Boxing Day floods and remains closed to traffic.

Coun Lay said: "Following the collapse of Tadcaster Bridge and the structural damage at Linton Bridge, both further down the Wharfe, I asked Leeds' Bridges and Historical Monuments team to provide reassurance with regards the

safety of Otley Bridge."

The council responded by saying that an engineer had been out to assess all the bridges on the Wharfe - including those at Otley and Pool-in-Wharfedale - over three days following the floods.

They concluded that Otley Bridge was "absolutely fine" and safe to continue to use.

Further inspections of the bridges over the Wharfe are set to carry on, meanwhile, which is normal procedure following any flooding.

The build-up of deep water over the roads on either end of Otley Bridge rendered it impassable - just as it had been during earlier floods in November - on Boxing Day.

Originally built in the Thirteenth Century, Otley Bridge was repaired, widened and lengthened in 1775-6, and had a cantilevered footbridge added in 1957.

A Scheduled Ancient Monument, the bridge connects the south and northern halves of the town and is used by high volumes of HGVs, heading for North Yorkshire using the B6451, every day.

Geoffrey Birch raised that issue, in relation to the safety of the bridge following the floods, on the Otley - The Community We Live In Facebook page.

He said: "After the bridge collapse at Tadcaster over the River Wharfe, do you think there should be a weight restriction in place over our bridge?

"Sometimes there are queues of 40 tonne wagons over that bridge. Won't last forever."