Engineers will draw up an alternative design for a footbridge linking Bradford on Avon town centre to the Kingston Mill development put forward by campaigners.

At a crunch meeting yesterday, between the town council, the town’s Preservation Trust, protest group Bradford Bridge Concern (BCC) and Mark Lovell Engineers, it was agreed to spend up to £2,500 of the town council’s money drawing up the alternative design.

This is despite the town council having already submitted its planning application to Wiltshire Council for an £850,000 Corten steel bridge, with an 18-metre mast – a design which has sparked controversy in the town.

Following yesterday’s meeting, Cllr Vicky Landell Mills said: “We agreed to spend the £2,500 to get the proposal drafted and costed by Mark Lovell.

“We are backing our bridge design because we have spent a long time considering the alternatives, but we want to make sure that we have proved our point.”

Cllr Malcolm Hewson said opposers would ‘change their minds’ once they saw their design drawn up.

But the decision has given new hope to campaigners.

Bradford Bridge Concern chairman John Seekings said: “We were concerned that if the meeting on Wednesday was conducted in bad faith it might be used to block our idea.

“It appears to us that the council are moving forwards to have a serious look at alternatives to their proposed design. We want to give them the benefit of the doubt. We are all trying to find the best bridge for Bradford.”

Earlier this week, following a town council meeting on Tuesday, there were doubts raised by the Preservation Trust and campaigners, as to the seriousness with which the town council was considering the alternative design.

The town council’s design has won support from Bradford on Avon engineer and prominent businessman Alex Moulton, who said the cable-stay design represents “a gesture for future enterprise”.

The designs for the council’s bridge will be on display at Bradford on Avon Library in Bridge Street tomorrow and Saturday.