A BRIDGE across the River Wye into Monmouth should be off-limits to HGVs according to a town councillor, who says that she is "amazed there has not been an accident before now".

The Grade II-listed bridge carries the A466 the 71 metres over the Wye to meet the A40 at Monmouth.

Monmouth Town Councillor Emma Bryn believes that, due to the narrow nature of the bridge, larger vehicles such as HGVs should not be permitted to cross.

"The large HGVs struggle to make it around the bends in the road and need to enter the opposite carriageway or mount the pavement in order to manoeuvre around it," she said.

"More often than not, they just simply mount the narrow pavement.

"Hearing people describing the experience as 'frightening' or 'terrifying' really brought it home to me."

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Ms Bryn conceded that the route was a convenient shortcut for lorries coming to and from the Forest of Dean.

However, she said she didn't see why Monmouth "should pay the price for this".

"I am indeed amazed that there has not been an accident before now," she said.

She said that Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) must "pay out a fortune in carriageway repairs, as the road surface is constantly being torn up by the continual heavy traffic".

Very little, if any, of this traffic, she said, is destined for Monmouth itself.

A spokesperson for MCC said: “The widening of the existing pavement has been difficult to achieve due to the restricted width of the bridge and structural issues.

"However a scheme for a new Active Travel bridge upstream of the existing Wye Bridge is currently being designed.

"The new bridge has been widely supported by the public and is currently going through all the regulatory processes that are needed to ensure the success of building a safe walking and cycling route over a new bridge.

"Funding to build the bridge was approved by Welsh Government earlier this month and subject to Natural Resources Wales’ approval on flooding requirements, the detailed design and tendering process will start later this year with construction in 2022.”