A TEMPORARY bridge is to relieve a community cut off since its ancient river crossing was partially washed away in recent floods.

The bridge is expected to be completed by the end of November, to replace the collapsed Creet's Bridge on the Ripon to Kirkby Malzeard road, five miles from Ripon.

North Yorkshire County Council has already ordered a 64ft-long "quick fix" structure, which will be superimposed on top of the old stone bridge, which is a listed structure. Restoring the damaged bridge with specially-ordered stone will be a longer task.

The closure of the Kirkby Road across Creet's Beck has forced motorists to use a four-mile detour to reach Kirkby via Grewelthorpe, or to travel through Galphay.

The county council's senior bridges engineer, John Smith, who is responsible for 1,600 crossings in the county, said suggestions that it would be 18 months before the road was reopened were mistaken. He hopes a permanent replacement should be ready by spring.

North Yorkshire was one of the worst-hit parts of the country during the recent flooding and a similar temporary bridge has had to be erected at Bolton Abbey.

Creet's Bridge had its piers severely undermined by the pressure of water in Creet's Beck, with part of the road also collapsing.

Council workers were forced to replace temporary barriers with heavy concrete blocks, to prevent pedestrians and drivers from using the unsafe crossing.

A county council spokesman said people had been risking their lives by using the bridge, which was in imminent danger of collapse.