I READ the letter from Susan Baxendale (LET, August 1) regarding Mitton Bridge and would like to add some more facts that your readers may find interesting.

I recently took on the role of Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment and found that the cost to provide the bridge over the rivers could hit the £1million mark.

With no outside grant funding available I believed this to be a massive and intolerable burden on the council tax payers of Lancashire.

The County Council does not receive enough money to maintain all its much-used bridges and roads to the high standards I would like.

As this is the case I hardly feel able to commit the people of Lancashire to an expensive bridge and all its associated future maintenance costs.

As I am new to the post I cannot comment on what may have happened over the last 20 years.

However, I can say that costs rise and there comes a point where someone has to make an unpopular, but necessary, decision.

I consider the decision to shelve plans for the bridge to be responsible and reasonable.

I will end by saying that we are now looking at value-for-money alternatives to the bridge and also, should outside funding become available we will look again at plans to build the bridge.

MARCUS JOHNSTONE, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment, Lancashire County Council.