A man has criticised the ‘disgraceful’ lack of action from Buckinghamshire Council as a historic Grade-I listed bridge in his town ‘falls into disrepair’.

Bernard Guly, 59, is a man who knows and loves Marlow well. He owned and ran a Public Relations company in the Buckinghamshire town for 40 years before a temporary relocation to the Middle East from which he has since returned, and describes the area as “very lovely”, with a “great local community”.

He has become increasingly concerned in recent years, however, with the state of one of Marlow’s most defining landmarks – its 19th-century Grade-I listed suspension bridge, one of two remaining structures designed by the engineer William Tierney Clark.

While the historic bridge continues to attract tourists, alongside a range of film crews, Bernard has noticed signs of gradual dilapidation in the structure, including chipped paint, faulty lighting and dirtiness, none of which he feels has received an adequate response from Buckinghamshire Council.

Bernard said: “I walk over the bridge every day and each time I do, I think: ‘Why isn’t anyone doing anything about this?’. It still looks lovely from afar, but when you’re standing on it, you can see how dilapidated it has become.

“My wedding photographs were taken on the bridge in 2005 and it looked very different then – there were lights that worked, for one. Now it’s like driving into a black hole. You go from the bright Christmas lights on Marlow High Street to nothing. It can be like driving into a dead zone in the evenings and it's dangerous, especially when you’re navigating around the (width-restriction) bollards.”

Bernard accused local councillors of being “short-sighted” when addressing issues in the town, adding: “It annoys me when Buckinghamshire Council lauds how iconic the bridge is, all the while they’re letting it fall to ruin, and it's only getting worse and worse. Our politicians seem to be concentrating on making the High Street pretty and helping out local businesses, but they’re not looking any further than that.

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“If it was cleaned and lit properly, it would be such a benefit to the town, but instead there’s an increasing risk of long-term damage to something that is such an important part of our DNA. We don't want to see parts of Marlow degenerate bit by bit because people are steering away from tackling these problems. I’ve said it before – how many council committees does it take to change a lightbulb?”

Steve Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport at Buckinghamshire Council told the Free Press that efforts were regularly made to check, maintain and improve Marlow Bridge.

He added, however: “Such historic structures, whilst attractive and a valued asset to the county, are very costly to maintain and we must balance the amount of work we undertake with available budgets.

“Currently, Buckinghamshire Highways is developing plans to complete various maintenance and improvement works at the bridge. This includes the final phase of planned painting work, which will see the Marlow end of the bridge and the western parapet over the central part of the river repainted.

“Additionally, the streetlights at both ends of the bridge will be replaced as part of this work.”

Unconvinced that such council pledges will be followed through, Bernard said the sympathetic response he has received from other residents since raising the issue on social media has emboldened him to plan a ‘cleaning flash mob’ in the near future to draw further attention to the cause.