Calls are continuing to replace a prominent bridge which many people claim increased the amount of water that flooded Cockermouth last December.

Residents say the arched Gote Bridge acted as a dam when the river rose and debris blocked the arches.

Trader Jonty Chippendale is calling on the county council to replace it with a single-span footbridge. He said: “The bridge is a problem and we have to find a way to get more water past the bridge.

“At the moment Gote Bridge is the choke point on the River Derwent and we have to find a way to relieve that.

“When Gote Bridge was closed, most drivers’ journeys were only lengthened by seven or eight minutes.”

Phil Routledge, who owns four properties in flood-hit Gote Road, agrees. He said: “On the day of the floods, there was that much water coming down it was right up to the arches.

“I would rather they demolished it and made us drive round Papcastle Road, as long as there’s a footbridge there.”

A county council and Environment Agency report drafted six months ago said the amount of water flooding Main Street was “increased by debris at Gote Bridge, obstructing flow and leading to a higher river level at the Trout Hotel”.

The draft report recommended actions considering how to increase flow capacity through the bridge or provide a way of trapping debris upstream of the town.

The council has no plans to remove the bridge.

A council spokesman said: “We are installing rock cage protection around the piers and abutments of the bridge as measures to secure it over the winter period.

“At this stage there is no requirement for a replacement bridge. However, further engineering assessments are ongoing and will clarify solutions in the first quarter of 2017.”