News

Powick Old Bridge completion of repairs more than two years away

9 November 2025

Worcestershire County Council (WCC) has authorised a £5m project to repair the flood damaged Old Bridge at Powick, Worcestershire, which saw one of the initial actions during the first Civil War (1642–46).

According to a paper presented to the WCC Cabinet in late October 2025, the bridge, which suffered the loss of a wingwall in floods in January 2024, is not expected to re–open until 2028, with permanent repairs commencing only in 2027.

The project is not straightforward. The bridge is a Grade 1 listed scheduled monument and consents need to be obtained from Historic England and other stakeholders before work can commence. Design options have been created and are now with Historic England, but once ratified, detailed design work will still be needed before contracts to rebuild the bridge can be let.

Battlefields Trust Research and Threats Coordinator Simon Marsh queried the delays. “The Trust was told in July 2024 by Worcestershire County Council that it hoped a permanent design with necessary approvals would be in place to allow work to commence after Spring 2025.  It is not clear why all of this is taking so long”.

Whilst WCC Councillor Alan Amos, a Cabinet member, declared himself "absolutely over the moon" at the decision to fund repairs, Councillor Tom Wells, representing the Powick ward, said “for too long, the flooding issues and the damage to this bridge haven't received the attention they deserve”.

He added, "In the future, I hope more proactive work takes place to ensure there's not more damage to it."

Historic England also seem to have concerns as the bridge was, for the first time, added to its Heritage at Risk register in November 2025. The heritage body described the condition of the bridge as “very bad”, although it noted that its trend was improving with a repair scheme in progress.

The campaign group Friends of Powick Bridge called separately for responsibility for the bridge to be taken away from WCC saying: "It needs to be in the care of an agency like English Heritage, who have professional expertise in managing and restoring scheduled monuments, not just managed as another highways asset."  

A spokesperson for the Battlefields Trust said "we continue to monitor progress to repair this iconic Civil War monument and urge the Council to bring forward its schedule of work before more damage is caused to the bridge."