At its Board meeting on 16th August the future of the two brick buildings beside the swing bridge.

We believe that the two buildings are late 19th century and have in the past been used as shelter for bridge workers and users, storing tools, etc.  They do not include any operating machinery. We understand there is no intention to demolish the larger white rendered building on the NE side of the road, which houses the control mechanism.

Although the bridge structure and associated buildings can be considered to make a positive contribution to the conservation area, it is inevitable that there will have to be changes to accommodate a new bridge, and these two buildings are not major features. They are not listed, nor are they mentioned in the Faversham Conservation Area Character Appraisal (2004) or in the Undesignated Heritage Assets paper (co-authored by Anne Salmon) which was submitted as part of the evidence base for the Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan. They are not mentioned by Arthur Percival in his History of Faversham Creek. While they have some intrinsic value for their historical and architectural relationship with the bridge, their loss would, in our view, cause less than substantial harm and this would be outweighed by the very significant public benefit of a new bridge.

The Faversham Society therefore considers that, on the basis of the evidence available, there are no compelling reasons to object on conservation grounds to the removal of these two buildings, provided that a full record of their ‘standing archaeology’ is made before and during demolition, and this record is made publicly available.

We look forward to seeing the proposed bridge design, and may have further comments at that stage.