A two-week inspection of Marlow Bridge has been pushed back to avoid clashing with Tom Kerridge's Pub in the Park food and music festival.

A survey and inspection of the Grade-I listed structure, which was built in 1834 and last underwent a major refurbishment in the 1960s, was due to begin on Monday, May 13, and continue for two weeks.

However, a spokesperson for Buckinghamshire Council told the Free Press the work has now been pushed back to the following Monday, May 20, because of "events taking place at Higginson Park" during the initially scheduled period. 

It means a road closure between 8pm and 6am will instead be enforced on Monday, May 20, as scaffolding is put up around the bridge towers, and again when the inspection concludes and the scaffolding is taken down at the beginning of June.

Pub in the Park Marlow is due to kick off in Higginson Park on Thursday, May 16, and finish on Sunday, May 19.

It comes after staff at The Chequers pub on Marlow High Street suggested temporarily closing Marlow Bridge could be harmful to business – especially if the council’s initial inspection finds problems that necessitate a longer-term works project.

One staff member said: “A fair amount of the footfall we get are walkers, but (the bridge closure) would probably mean fewer people driving in.

“It would probably make it even harder to drive into town than it already is because everyone will be coming from the other side.”

Chloe Francesca Norris, 37, who used to manage Burgers Bakery on The Causeway, said she thought a longer-term closure of the bridge would disproportionately impact small businesses on the High Street and emphasised the stress on local roads of closing the bridge during Pub in the Park.

“There’s a lot of new start-up businesses in Marlow – they would be affected if people can’t get across the bridge. With Pub in the Park too, everyone would be coming the other way into the High Street, and it would be chaos."

READ MORE: Poll results reveal local view on Marlow Film Studios

The closure on May 20 will allow Buckinghamshire Council to carry out a full inspection of the bridge and help to form a programme of “maintenance and upgrade works” planned for the next 12 months.

Deputy Member for Transport Dominic Barnes previously told the Free Press that “some of the bearings” on the Grade-I listed bridge needed repair and that “protecting and enhancing” the landmark structure was a priority for the council.

Residents have called for ANPR cameras or similar weight restriction-enforcement measures to be introduced on the bridge, which has a long history of issues caused by HGVs crossing.

Addressing the concerns, Mr Barnes said: “The bridge remains fully safe to use and we would remind motorists that weight restrictions remain in force to help protect this historic structure.

“On the matter of ANPR, we have repeatedly explained that the council does not have structural enforcement powers. This means that even if we installed ANPR cameras, we would not be able to do anything with the footage gained.

“It would be a waste of tax-payers money and a waste of resources to install cameras that wouldn’t serve any purpose.”

In 2022, the Department of Transport granted Bucks Council powers to enforce some moving traffic offences including environmental weight restrictions, which generally apply to vehicles of 7.5-tonnes or more on unsuitable routes.

Weight restriction on Marlow Bridge would be classed as structural rather than environmental because of its Grade-I listed status and three-tonne weight limit. The council does not have the power to enforce structural weight restrictions.