A LAKE District village battered by Storm Desmond is to get an “elegant” new bridge.

National park planners have given the go-ahead today for the 128ft-long crossing at Pooley Bridge.

It will go over the river Eamont after the original 251-year-old three-span bridge was destroyed during the December 2015 storm.

At a meeting at the park’s Murley Moss offices in Kendal, the development control committee was told that late objections had been submitted on the grounds that the new bridge design was “too modern”.

But national park committee members rallied to defend its design.

Panel member Geoff Davies, of Braithwaite, near Keswick, said it was an “essential” piece of infrastructure.

“I can understand why someone who was used to there being the original 250-year-old  bridge might think this was too modern, but we don’t have any policies which prevent modern things being put in the Lake District.

“I agree, it’s very elegant,” he said.

Park chairman Mike McKinley told the hearing: “I’m very pleased we appear to have learned the lessons from Storm Desmond.

“We are not replacing the bridge with a bridge with piers in the river. The new bridge is unashamedly modern and we have heard the word elegant used today and I would agree. I think it will be quite an acquisition for the national park.”

Panel member Hugh Branney told the meeting that had the technology available now been around in 1768, when the bridge was built, a single span structure would have been used.

Area planner Ben Long recommended it for approval. He said it would require a road closure from September but would re-open by Easter 2020.

A temporary footbridge will provide pedestrian access only.

Panel member John Thompson asked if it would provide access for agricultural workers on quad bikes but was told this was not possible.

Cumbria County Council, as the highways authority, had concerns that allowing quad bikes on a pedestrian walkway could cause conflict with other users, said Mr Long.

The panel agreed to delegate authority to David McGowan, the park’s head of development management.