Walker says Castle Green's glass bridge is dangerous (From Somerset County Gazette)

Walker says Castle Green's glass bridge is dangerous

10:30am Monday 29th October 2012 in News

Deane Council leaders Cllr John Williams, site foreman Rob Dunn and Project Taunton's Ian Franklin on the completed Castle Green bridge

A BRIDGE built as part of a £3m improvement scheme has been labelled dangerous by a woman who slipped on it.

Judy Howard said she managed to keep her footing, but is warning someone could be seriously injured on the glass-sided structure linking Castle Green to Goodland Gardens in Taunton.

“I was going over it at lunchtime when it was a bit wet and I slipped as I overtook two people,” said Mrs Howard.

“Luckily I caught my balance but it’s most unsafe and there are going to be lots of people injured and calling the council for compensation.”

She says the problem is that there is a strip of brickwork down the centre of the bridge with glass bands at the side.

“There were two people in the centre and I was rushing for a bus so overtook them on the side,” added Mrs Howard.

“I could have fallen on my face and lots of others have said it’s slippery. Someone less agile is going to break their neck.

“What really annoys me is they’ve spent so much time praising their own work yet it’s unsafe and I don’t think it looks that good anyway.”

The car park in Castle Green was ripped up and replaced with a grassed area, with a hard surface area in front of the Museum of Somerset so the area can be used as a public open space.

A Taunton Deane Council spokeswoman said: “The bridge has been carefully designed to incorporate specially formulated slip resistant material. It does not lose its slip resistant properties when wet, unlike other hard surfaces such as concrete or natural stone.

“The band of glass without anti-slip material measures just 32mm wide – smaller than two 5p coins laid side by side.

“We would advise people to take care in wet weather when walking on any hard surface – stone, Tarmac or concrete - particularly in autumn when wet leaves are on the ground.”