AN assurance has been given that a pedestrian pathway in Bromsgrove's Market Street will be retained after work to improve the nearby bus station is completed.

Shoppers feared the footbridge over the Spadesbourne Brook would be permanently closed after it was cordoned off while repairs to rotten wooden planks were carried out.

The two Tory district councillors for the town centre Cllrs Dennis Norton and Rita Dent, having visited the bridge and realising the need for urgent repairs for shoppers and those with impaired mobility took the matter up with council depot manager Mike Bell.

Cllr Dent said later: "He listened and assured us the bridge will be reopened."