Plans to demolish a bridge built in 1897 and replace it with a modern one are set to be approved.

Boxted Bridge, on the Essex-Suffolk border, was closed to cars and pedestrians in June 2023 as the structure was deteriorating.

Campaigners say there is not enough evidence to show the bridge cannot be repaired.

Essex County Council said a replacement would be similar to the existing structure and planning officers have advised councillors to approve the plan.

Boxted Bridge was built four years before the end of Queen Victoria's reign by the Hadleigh-born builder George Double, who was the foreman on the Cleopatra's Needle project in London.

The steel girder structure, next to a rural road junction, took two-way traffic over the River Stour until its closure in 2023.

The council said an inspection in 2018 found the bridge was "dangerously weak" due to corrosion of the beams underneath the roadway.

It added that vehicles such as refuse lorries and fire engines could not safely manoeuvre at the junction, and there had been a number of vehicle strikes at the bridge and on nearby private property.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the authority plans to demolish the bridge and replace it with a wider structure.

'Enormous'

Campaigners claim the council has not shown that demolition is necessary.

Lucinda de Jasay, from the Save Our Bridge campaign, said: "It's about its setting and how it fits in the landscape.

"It's next to a Grade II-listed house, an old cottage. It sits beautifully into that, and it works. There is no need for this enormous bridge."

Colchester City Council has objected to the plan, saying the "increasingly muscular form and upgrading of the associated carriageway on the approaches will harm the designation" as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The countryside charity, the CPRE, said: "We believe that a repair to the current structure is a better way to provide environmental protection to the area and its heritage than a total, expanded rebuild."

A statement submitted with the planning application asserted that "the proposed design avoids any long term harm by taking cues from the existing bridge and the provision of reclaimed materials where possible, thus conserving the natural beauty of the National Landscape."

Planning officers have advised councillors to approve the plan at their meeting on Friday.

Hong Kong residents found downloading or sharing a mobile game app about defeating the communist regime may be punished under national security laws, police have said.

According to the website for Reversed Front: Bonfire, players can "pledge allegiance" to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Tibet or Uyghurs, among other options, "to overthrow the Communist regime".

In a statement on Tuesday, police warned that those who download the game "may be regarded as in possession of a publication that has a seditious intention".

It comes as Beijing has tightened grip over the city and has been seen as increasingly cracking down on dissent in the wake of the 2019 pro-democracy protests.

In a line on the game's website, it stated that it was a "work of non-fiction", adding that "any similarity to actual agencies, policies or ethnic groups of the PRC in this game is intentional".

The game also allows for users to play as communists to fight enemies and support the communist revolution.

Police have also warned people against providing funding to the app developer, ESC Taiwan.

"'Reversed Front: Bonfire' was released under the guise of a game with the aim of promoting secessionist agendas such as 'Taiwan independence' and 'Hong Kong independence'," said the police statement.

"Those who have downloaded the application should uninstall it immediately and must not attempt to defy the law."

As of Wednesday, the game – which was launched in April – is no longer accessible on Google Play or Apple's App Store from Hong Kong.

But the warning might have inadvertently brought more attention to the game, which on Wednesday was the most popular search term on Google among Hong Kong residents.

The game's creators have appeared to embrace the news surrounding its ban in the city, writing in a post that the game had been "introduced to the entire Hong Kong" as a result.

In 2020, China imposed a national security law (NSL) on Hong Kong that critics say effectively outlawed dissent – but Beijing maintains is crucial for maintaining stability.

The law – which criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces – came in response to massive pro-democracy protests that broke out in Hong Kong in 2019.

Media mogul Jimmy Lai and activist Joshua Wong are among the pro-democracy figures that have been charged or jailed under the NSL.

Hong Kong is governed under the principle of "one country, two systems", under which China has agreed to give the region a high degree of autonomy and to preserve its economic and social systems for 50 years from the date of the handover.

But critics say the implementation of the NSL has breached the "one country, two systems" principle, though Beijing and Hong Kong have argued the NSL ensures the "resolute, full and faithful implementation" of "one country, two systems".