Repairs to a historic bridge that has been closed due to damage caused by a car crash will begin later this month.

The Halfpenny Bridge in Lechlade is the main road in and out of the Cotswolds town to and from Swindon.

But drivers have been unable to use this stretch of the A361 ever since a car collided with the eastern parapet during the early hours of June 20, though access has been kept open for pedestrians and cyclists.

The 18th-century structure is listed and classed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, which complicates the process to repair it.

At a public meeting on July 20, Gloucestershire County Council officials explained that they would submit an official plan for repair to Historic England and the Secretary of State within the next month.

Since then, consents have been granted from Historic England and the Secretary of State for the repair works to go ahead, subject to the final agreement of method statements for all the required work.

Swindon Advertiser: The A361 is closed near Halfpenny Bridge in LechladeThe A361 is closed near Halfpenny Bridge in Lechlade (Image: Gloucestershire County Council)

The council has announced that work should start on-site around mid-August, take eight weeks, and finish around mid-October, subject to relevant consent approvals and weather conditions permitting.

Once the work has been carried out, the bridge should be safe to travel on again and the road should be reopened to motorists.

Expert divers have been hired to recover any remaining stones that had fallen into the river, as one of the conditions of the rebuild is that as much of the original masonry as possible should be used.

A scaffold will be set up to provide a safe working platform for the contractors and work will be supervised by a certified ecologist.

The parapet will be deconstructed and then reconstructed using a specialist lime mortar.

Searches for unexploded ordinance will be carried out to eliminate any risk to people working on-site.

Swindon Advertiser: Damage to Lechlade's Halfpenny BridgeDamage to Lechlade's Halfpenny Bridge (Image: Gloucestershire County Council)

The council has also applied to the Environmental Agency for permit permission for the repair effort and expects it to be approved before the work is scheduled to begin.

Maintenance for the bridge that was pencilled in before the road accident happened will be carried out at the same time.

This includes the reinstatement of a section of the embankment, crack stitching of the Thames path arch, removal of vegetation, and the rebuilding of a partial length of the wing wall parapet that was damaged by the vegetation.