Millennium Bridge in Gosport still does not work - despite week of repairs

Boats remain stranded inside Forton Lake as the Millennium Bridge is still broken.

Gosport Borough Council closed it for five days this month for work on the mechanism that raises and lowers the bridge for marine traffic to pass through.

Tom Payton, who lives on a boat on the lake has been trying to sell his boat for three years.

All sales have fallen through because his boat cannot get out of the lake, and he said he doesn't know what to do.

‘I’ve been trying to contact the council since 2019 about the bridge because I've lost a lot of money,’ he said.

‘In 2018 I lost £5,000 because the bridge started to open and then it broke down, my friend wrote to the council but they said they weren’t responsible.

‘I live on my boat, I'm retired and I don't like mentioning it but I do have some health problems.

‘I have an interested buyer, he’s ok but I think he’s starting to run out of patience.’

A Gosport Borough Council spokesperson said: ‘Our specialist contractors have stripped down the lifting mechanism and discovered that the likely cause of the failure is an issue with the pair of motors that power the system.

‘Brakes will need replacing and one of the motors needs to be checked for damage.

‘We need to see the results of this work before knowing when the lifting mechanism will be operational again.

‘In the meantime, we have cleaned the bridge and it has reopened for cyclists and pedestrians wishing to cross.

‘We apologise for the delay in restoring the lifting function of the bridge.

‘Our contractors are working hard on these complex technical issues.’