A 160-year-old ancient monument bridge that cost £43,000 in taxpayers money to repair after it was hit by a large vehicle will not have HGV restrictions placed on it, a council has said.

Rushford Bridge was closed for nearly 10 weeks after a hit and run incident on April 17 which left Norfolk County Council with extensive repairs.

Damage to spandrels and the parapet wall meant the county council had to dismantle one side of the bridge in order to assemble it again.

The road reopened this week, with the county council finishing the work ahead of the expected date of July 11, according to a spokesman.

'We won't have the final invoice for another few weeks but the total cost of the works is provisionally forecast to be £43,000.

'As you would expect, repairing a Scheduled Ancient Monument brought its own challenges, not least in sourcing replacement stone from a specialist supplier and using traditional techniques which are slower than modern methods and more labour intensive,' she said.

But despite complaints from villagers that the bridge was not suitable for HGVs, a spokesman said there were no plans to introduce a limit.

The spokesman added: 'An assessment of the load carrying capacity has been carried out and no weight restriction is required.'

A survey of residents is currently being carried out by Brettenham and Kilverstone Parish Council to see if they would like the bridge closed to HGVs.

Tony Poulter OBE, chairman, said they would hand the results on to Norfolk County Council's Roads department.

'A weight limit is a possibility but whether or not the roads department would listen is a different matter,' he said.

What do you think of the county council's decision? Let us know by emailing andrew.fitchett@archant.co.uk