A GOVERNMENT minister has assured residents that a rotting wooden footbridge over a railway line in Bromley Cross will be regularly maintained in future.

Steven Byers told fellow MPs that Railtrack would work to keep the bridge, linking Hillside Avenue with Grange Road, safe after the Bolton Evening News revealed rotting planks were placing residents' lives at risk.

Mr Byers, Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, spoke after Bolton North East MP David Crausby told fellow MPs of the problem.

Mr Crausby told the House of Commons: "The footbridge across the Railway Line at Bromley Cross is so unsafe that two children have already been injured.

"Will he (Mr Byers) ensure that Railtrack fulfils its public responsibility on bridge safety?"

Mr Byers said: "Railtrack has established a new body to deal with rail safety, which is just being put in place now. I am sure it will want to reflect upon the point made."

As reported in the BEN, family GP Dr Ian James, aged 51 of Chapeltown Road, feared someone could be killed by falling 25 feet through rotten wooden planks onto the track below.

And Bromley Cross councillor Don Carr said: "People are dicing with death walking over that bridge."

Railtrack have since employed contractors who have worked to repair around 15 planks of the footbridge.

A spokesman for Railtrack said: "I am aware that our contractors have been called to this bridge five times this year already in response to reports of damaged planks.

"In the longer term, my structures engineer is examining a proposal to re-deck the bridge, but for the present, we will continue to examine and maintain the structure."