THE swing bridge at Cawood between Naburn and Selby will be closed for a month.

North Yorkshire County Council are set to carry out a £500,000 upgrade to its parts and components, 36 years after its last upgrade.

From October 22 the bridge will be closed to motor vehicles and river traffic for four weeks, with a diversion in place, but pedestrians and cyclists will be able to cross the bridge at all times.

A drop-in session for residents and road users will be arranged next month, when bridge engineers, contractors and highways officials will be available to discuss the scheme.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for highways, said: "The upgrade work will bring the bridge up to date with modern equipment, parts and technology. The hydraulic bridge motor and the bridge operating software have come to the end of their working life.

"Teeth have been found broken off the gear ring and inspections of the bridge found a problem with the gearbox mountings, which required an immediate temporary repair. The motor drives the bridge when it opens and shuts and we have been advised to renew the gearboxes, fixings and the gear ring track alongside the other upgrades.

"The bridge is currently running in emergency mode. Moving the undamaged sections of the gear ring have allowed this, although any over swing of the bridge will result in it getting stuck open to the river and it will be a lengthy process to recover the bridge back to allow road traffic to cross.’"