Health and safety zealots have caused outrage by announcing Love locks are to be permanently banned from a famous bridge in the Peak District.
Councill killjoys are to strip thousands of padlocks placed by visitors in Bakewell over the past decade, and melt them down.
They will then spend charge payers’ cash changing the design of the bridge so no one can ever leave tributes to loved ones there again.
As well as installing metal panels to replace the wires where people have attached locks, Derbyshire County Council said it would be attaching ‘new tubular railings’.
The council claimed the move will ‘improve public safety’ because of the risk of ‘grazes and cuts from protruding locks’.
The Weir Bridge in Bakewell, Derbyshire, is famous for its love locks which cover every inch of the structure’s fencing but they are set to be permanently banned over health and safety fears
Love locks were first attached to the bridge in 2011, and since then, an estimated 5,000 locks had been added
Love locks are padlocks traditionally used by couples who inscribe their initials on the locks before they lock them to a bridge, fence or monument and discard the keys
‘The thicker diameter of the tubes will prevent locks being attached to the bridge in the future, making maintenance of the structure much easier and improving public safety by reducing the risk of any further grazes and cuts caused by protruding locks,’ council bosses gloated in a news release.
The council argues it had received ‘comments’ from ‘people who had injured themselves’.
‘As people have added more and more locks to the bridge, they unfortunately stick out, increasing the risk of injury,’ a spokesperson said.
But Richard Young, from the Save the Love Locks at Bakewell, external campaign group, has rubbished the claims, storming: ‘How can you be scratched by a padlock?
‘Think of it logically. It’s got rounded corners, it’s not sharp.’
He also protested the council was not giving enough consideration to people who had left love locks in memory of loved ones.
‘They’re going to take them off and melt them down. They don’t give a damn of that memory of the stillborn child that’s on there, or grandad that died, or the wedding anniversary – it’s nothing to them,’ he continued.
‘I think there will be a lot of people disappointed, and I mean thousands of people that have put them on there.’
The locks are meant to symbolise unbreakable love and since the 2000s, the locks have become commonplace in cities and towns across the world
![Local resident Frances Bell also has a lock on the bridge for her father as Bakewell was their 'favorite [sic] place to visit'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/25/12/87755149-13671833-image-m-7_1721907295551.jpg)
Local resident Frances Bell also has a lock on the bridge for her father as Bakewell was their ‘favorite [sic] place to visit’
Love locks are padlocks traditionally used by couples who inscribe their initials on the locks before they lock them to a bridge, fence or monument and discard the keys.
The idea is to symbolise unbreakable love and since the 2000s, the locks have become commonplace in cities and towns across the world.
The bridge, officially called the Weir Bridge but known as a tourist attraction in its own right, The Love Lock Bridge, crosses the River Wye, which meanders through the picture postcard market town.
The council said love locks were first attached to the bridge in 2011, and since then, an estimated 5,000 locks had been added.
It said the bridge needed ‘extensive repair works’ and the love locks must be removed so this can be done.
The maintenance and repair programme is due to start on September 16 and people have been invited to remove their locks before then – if they don’t want them melted down.
The council said it will then recycle any remaining locks and donate the proceeds to two local charities chosen by Bakewell Town Council.
Councillor Charlotte Cupit, cabinet member for highways assets and transport, said: ‘We understand the significance this bridge has developed for many people as a place to attach a lock to remember loved ones or to celebrate special anniversaries.
The council said the bridge needed ‘extensive repair works’ and the love locks must be removed so this can be done
‘However, as we have noted over the last few years, the bridge requires repairs, which include tackling significant areas of rust, as well as repairing the pedestrian walkway, which has worn through in a number of places.
‘To enhance public safety, new metal panels will be installed to replace the wires people have used to attach their locks, helping to improve public safety and reduce the previous issue that has been raised by some of grazes and cuts from protruding locks.’
Mr Young said the bridge benefited the local economy because it attracts more visitors to Bakewell.
‘They come in the shops, they might stay overnight, it just puts Bakewell on the map,’ he said.
He has suggested the padlocks could be moved to another area of Bakewell and put on a tree or railings to create a Love Lock Garden for people to visit instead.
He said he knows of suitable sites, but Ms Cupit claimed ‘organisations have been unable to help identify or provide a site to display the locks’.
She added that the council had delayed planned repairs in 2021 ‘to look into all options for the future of the locks in the surrounding area as well as giving people time to remove their locks from the bridge’
It is not the first time the council has attempted to strip the locks from the famous bridge. In 2021, the council announced it has to carry out routine maintenance work on the bridge and insisted the locks must be removed as part of the repairs.
In response to the planned works, angry residents set up a Facebook group – Save the Love Locks at Bakewell – to share concerns and ideas to stop the locks being lost for good.
According to Bakewell Town Council meeting minutes from 2021, the county council had planned to collect the locks and store them in a depot so people could collect them for ‘several months’ after their removal.
People later joined the group to share their own connections to the bridge.
Jan Rogers wrote: ‘My sister and her husband loved Bakewell, they both passed away within a few short weeks of each other in 2016.
‘There is a padlock in memory to them on the bridge.’
Gemma Tompkins added: ‘Gutted. We got married at the town hall and then put our padlock on the bridge. We haven’t got the keys either.’
Frances Bell shared a photo of her padlock and wrote: ‘Lock for my dad was our favorite [sic] place to visit and where we go every year to remember him be so sad to lose this place.’
Pam Disdel wrote: ‘We have gone to Bakewell for years after putting our lock on the bridge. It’s a shame they will lose tourists. It’s what keeps us coming back each year for holidays because our lock is on there.’
According to Bakewell Town Council meeting minutes from 2021, the county council had planned to collect the locks and store them in a depot so people could collect them for ‘several months’ after their removal.
However the county council has said that discussions are ongoing as to what will happen to the locks once they are removed.
MailOnline has contacted Derbyshire County Council for comment.
