A REDDITCH councillor is calling upon county officials to act on promises to improve safety of a bridge over the Bromsgrove Highway.
Coun Joe Baker made his plea after a man in his 30s fell from the notorious Muskets Way bridge on Monday morning, suffering multiple injuries to his head, chest and pelvis.
He was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
“My heartfelt prayers and thoughts are with the families past and present of those who are associated with the awful and sad incidents at Muskets bridge,” said Coun Baker.
“After putting a notice of motion forward at the county council to request the bridge was made safe, the leader of the county council (Coun Simon Geraghty) assured me this would be done within three months. This was over one year ago.
“The county council have failed in its duty of care in continually delaying their responsibility to come up with a suitable solution.
“How many more incidents will it take for the the county leaders and staff to realise we have a serious problem?”
In November 2016, a Redditch resident read a statement at County Hall expressing her feelings over the ‘lack of respect’ the authority had shown for the safety of the public over the bridge,which has to date has still not seen any safety measures put in place.
Earlier that year the authority had refused to put a cage around the bridge, which would have cost it an estimated £60,000.
County Coun Alan Amos, cabinet member with responsibility for highways said: “Public safety is our number one priority when it comes to all of our roads, highways, footpaths and bridges.
“We have a commitment to follow responsible reporting guidelines and for this reason will not comment further at this time.”
