Rayleigh MP Mark Francois has recently written to Simon Jenkins, the Chairman of the National Trust, to ask him to look into the feasibility of building a bridge onto the historic Rayleigh Mount.
Rayleigh Mount, the site of an old Norman Castle, is situated in the centre of Rayleigh near the Rayleigh Windmill. There have been discussions for a number of years about the possibility of building a bridge to join the refurbished Windmill directly to the Mount, in order to open up the site more conveniently for visitors.
By chance Mark recently sat next to Simon Jenkins, the well known journalist and now Chairman of the Trust, at a lunch in London where he took the opportunity to speak to him about the project. Mark followed up the discussion with a letter to which he has recently received a reply. This states that the Trust is now “working towards” a design and feasibility study but there are still issues as to how a bridge may eventually be funded.
Commenting on his request for the bridge to link the Windmill and the Mount to be considered Mark Francois said:
""Building a bridge from the Windmill to the Mount would benefit the town as it would link up two of our principle historic tourist sites.
Having met Simon Jenkins, the Chairman of the National Trust, I thought I would take up the opportunity to write to him directly to see if there was anything that could be done to progress the matter. He has now replied saying they will look into doing a study into possible appropriate designs. There are still funding issues to look at but I hope one day this project will come to fruition.”
