A resident who organised a community clean-up of a historic bridge has criticised his local council's 'disingenuous' response to accusations of neglect.

Bernard Guly, 59, coordinated an orchestrated clean-up of Marlow's historic bridge earlier this month, inviting fellow residents to brave the cold early on a Saturday morning in hopes of highlighting the dilapidation of the Grade-I listed structure.

Volunteers taking part in the cleaning effort said they believed the bridge had suffered from "years of neglect" and described its appearance as "embarrassing". 

Speaking to the Free Press earlier this month, however, Steven Broadbent, Cabinet Member for Transport at Buckinghamshire Council said the issue of dirt and emissions build-up "would be logged and dealt with, should it become a significant problem".

He added that maintenance and improvement work was planned on the bridge for next month as part of a routine maintenance schedule, though he previously admitted that undertaking work on historic structures was a "very costly" enterprise which "must be balanced with available budgets".

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Bernard has now accused the council of being "disingenuous" and "trying to minimise the situation and deflect attention from the real issue" in their response to the clean-up, with the issue in question being the 'neglect and deterioration' of Marlow Bridge in the last few years.

He added: "While of course there is traffic, grime and soot, that came off easily when we did our token clean. The underlying reason I wanted to draw this to everyone's attention is the real neglect and deterioration of the bridge that the council has let happen.

"There's the much deeper issue of the neglect of an iconic structure. They hope it will go away, but it won't!"

Despite frustration at what he views as an unsatisfactory response from Buckinghamshire Council, Bernard also drew on the positives that had come from the cleaning effort and hinted that it may not be the last of its kind. 

"It's heartening to know that this issue has really resonated with the people of Marlow - following the bridge clean, I have been inundated with offers to 'help next time we do it', not only on social media but by people stopping me in the street.

"We could easily double the number of volunteers next time around."

Mr Broadbent's full comment reads: "Marlow Suspension Bridge is a historic structure which we regularly check, maintain and improve. However, such historic structures, whilst attractive and a valued asset for 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."