A new footbridge could soon be installed across a stream in Bathampton Meadows to make it easier to access the beauty spot near Bath.

The National Trust has submitted a planning application to Bath and North East Somerset Council to install a six-metre long steel and timber footbridge across a stream that cuts across the meadows, just on the opposite bank to Bath Rugby’s Lambridge training grounds.

A statement submitted with the planning application said: “The structure is to enable and make safer an existing path/desire line that is readily used by visitors to Bathampton Meadows.

“This will reduce the impact users will be having on the banks of the stream as they will no longer have to climb up and down them to continue along the path/desire line.

“The proposed bridge is a very simple basic structure, not designed to [be] architecturally significant but to be functional and humble within its landscape setting.”

Bathampton Meadows was acquired by the National Trust in 2022.

Interested parties can view and comment on the planning application here: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/webforms/planning/details.html?refval=24%2F02866%2FFUL