A NEW steel bridge over the Tees has been backed to go ahead after a decade-long planning battle.

Yarm School’s long-awaited bridge was given permission to be moved six metres to the south at Stockton Council planning committee on Wednesday afternoon. The structure will also be made of steel rather than wood.

The school won a planning appeal to create a bridge to its raft of sports pitches in 2018 after Stockton Council rejected its proposals. More than 200 objections were lodged against the original pitches over fears for the impact on the Tees Heritage Park and concerns it could trigger trouble.

Planning officers told councillors the steel bridge to the Egglescliffe side of the river would begin with an orange-brown colour which would then darken to a darker brown. It will also be covered with aggregate for pedestrians.

New school sports pitches have already been created near the river. But there was still concern about developments on heritage park land.

Thornaby councillor Steve Walmsley took aim at the Planning Inspectorate for overturning the committee’s original decision years ago. He said: “It’s nonsense – and, as I’ve said countless times before, the game is rigged.”

Cllr Walmsley said the land fell within the Tees Heritage Park and criticised the number of incursions into it since its creation. He added: “Anything goes – and it’s so sad that we’ve got policies which talk about preservation and protecting the natural environment which account for nothing.“

The member for Mandale and Victoria also believed the overturned decision was “galling” given Doug Nicholson, chairman of the Friends of Tees Heritage Park, had a heart attack before a committee while “trying to defend another incursion into the park”.

Cllr Walmsley said: “It was democratically rejected and we go through all this over and over again. What is the point of this committee if every time we make a decision to protect something, we get the planning inspectorate coming in – unelected and unaccountable – and we can’t appeal against any decision they make?

“That’s not local democracy, that’s nonsense.” Meanwhile, Yarm councillor Andrew Sherris said it was “imperative” that parents and those using the facilities only used cars to drop off on the school site – and not in Egglescliffe.

The committee also heard how the steel would be “floated up the river” ahead of the bridge being built. Members were also told it would be made of a similar steel used for the Angel of the North.

Labour councillor Eileen Johnson welcomed the change from wood to steel. She added: “It’s not the middle ages – I don’t think we need wooden bridges across the Tees any more.

“I’m also pleased to see the changes to the footings – they’re not going to be in the river but on the bank. As long as they stick to what our officers tell them to stick to, I think the construction is going to be fine.”

But the Norton councillor echoed concerns about the heritage park. Cllr Johnson said: “I’m still against using the heritage park for the playing fields. It’s a done deal now and there’s nothing we can do.

“But, as Cllr Walmsley say, it makes a nonsense of us having these preservation areas if anyone can just go and put what they like on them. I’ve nothing against Yarm School at all – but that land isn’t in the ownership of the school and I don’t see why they could be allowed to take over that area.”

The tweaked plans were eventually approved by ten votes to two.