A BRIDGE that looks like it is made from a giant Meccano set will be built in a popular beauty spot after it was given the goahead by Bolton Council ’s planning committee.

The £90,000 bridge was unanimously praised by councillors for the design’s interpretation of the popular children’s building toy.

The designer of the ironwork bridge, public artist Liam Curtin, told the meeting: “The main reason for creating a Meccano bridge is so people in the community can help build it too.

“We have taken a bit of the canal which has been neglected for years and will hopefully create something beautiful for the community.”

The ironwork bridge will link Little Lever with Moses Gate Country Park and will be built on the site of an old horse bridge, passing over Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal at Nob End, Little Lever.

The Meccano pieces will be 10 times the size of the toy set, and a local steel fabricator will be used to make the beams, nuts and bolts in the same style—but 10 times thicker and 1,000 times heavier.

Cllr Anthony Connell planning committee chairman, had initially raised questions about the brightness of the red pieces.

In response, the artist added: “It will be absolutely beautiful and the red will be minimal, with green around the red for contrast and jewel-like touches of yellow.

“It will be gorgeous, I promise you.”

The scheme is being financed by money from a developer as part of a planning agreement.

Cllr Connell said: “I love this application myself and I think it’s great way to spend the money.As well as being a work of art, it will serve a function for the public and benefit the canal society.”

Cllr Elaine Sherrington added: “I think that it’s brilliant and the Meccano design is subtle as well as beautiful and I think it should definitely be approved.”

Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Society is carrying out improvements on the Nob End section of the canal and there are plans to turn it into a picnic area, with the bridge as its focal point.

Members hope it will be part of their long-term aspirations to create a visitor centre and reopen the waterway.