COUNCILLORS are expected to agree on Monday to diverting a footpath in Fenstanton to make way for expansion of the marina on the Great Ouse.

Jones’s boatyard has planning consent for a 104-berth extension to the marina, downstream of the current facility.

But in order to open up the new area it needs either to build a bridge or divert the existing riverside footpath.

Huntingdonshire District Council’s development management panel will be told on Monday that a footbridge, which would avoid the need for the diversion, would have to be so high that access for people with mobility problems would be restricted. A form of swing or bascule bridge would address those problems but could cause danger to boat-users as well as being a long-term maintenance liability for the county council.

Instead, the panel will be asked to make a stopping up order on the existing footpath and a diversion order re-routing it round the new marina, parallel to the Low Road, and back to the river bank.

If councillors agreed to the orders on Monday, the ‘extinguishment’ would not take effect until the new footpath is in place.