BRIGADOON residents sounded the alarm on large stretches of missing safety railing on the Bells Rapids footbridge leading to the City of Swan being notified and the footbridge being repaired last week.

Brigadoon resident Mitch Hastings first posted a video to Facebook on April 28 showing large portions of the bridge missing safety railings on each side which sparked outrage and concern in the community.

Mr Hastings said the bridge’s condition astonished him when he first encountered it during a walk in Bells Rapids Park.

“My girlfriend and I decided to go for a nice walk with my friend’s dog Tobi along the river (and then) walking across the bridge I was just shocked at how bad the handrails had degraded and more so that someone obviously knew about it,” he said.

“Plastic orange construction barricading had been put up in one or two spots as well as some yellow caution tape.

“The further you walked across the bridge the worse it got with handrails completely missing and real risk present for anyone who was walking across the bridge.

“The river is not flowing so you can really see the depth of the valleys and rocky outcrops and (while) walking back I couldn’t help but think in two months time, this river will be in full flow, and how horrible it would be if a small child was to fall off the bridge (as) the area is often frequented by families and dog walkers.”

Mr Hastings said it was then he decided to take a video and share it with the Campersic community and notified the City of Swan when he visited Midland on Tuesday, April 29.

“(I made) a report with the front desk clerk and showed her the video,” he said.

“She admitted they knew about the bridge but thought it was just one or two hand rails so she said she would escalate it further.”

City of Swan became aware of the damage to the bridge last Tuesday and responded, blocking off the areas within the hour of being notified.

The city’s bridge maintenance attended the site on Wednesday and according to Brigadoon resident Karen Mowat, who was in contact with the city, by Friday, the bridge was repaired.

“I think everybody up here was astonished by the condition when Mitch Hastings put up the post originally,” Ms Mowat said.

“I couldn’t believe it was as bad as it was and thought before I lodged an issue, I needed to see it for myself.

“I took a walk down there and really I was surprised at the condition because living up in Brigadoon, I don’t go down there that often so seeing it in the condition it was in, I was surprised it wasn’t flagged by tourists or visitors of the area as being unsafe.”

Ms Mowat said she was glad to see the City of Swan responded quickly to the alert from the community and repaired the bridge but is concerned about the bridge’s condition ahead of the Avon Descent.

She said the $2 million funding pledge made by Swan Hills member Michelle Maynard to upgrade the Bells Rapids bridge would leave a tight turn around for works ahead of the major annual event.

“If that funding is only what’s made available after the budget in June, which is what I’m led to believe after that, that’s not a lot of time to do repairs,” she said.

“If you walk across that bridge, if somebody was nudged on that bridge, and on the bad handrails,  it’s still an accident waiting to happen, especially if you’ve got numbers crossing for the Avon Descent.

“It’s the main viewing place in the City of Swan other than Lilac Hill.

“I do think it’s a shame that that bridge got into that condition.

“That didn’t happen overnight, and I can’t understand why somebody didn’t let the city see it, and why the city was not paying more attention.

“That didn’t happen overnight, not the rotten jarrah, because I keep getting told it’s vandalism and I was like, well, maybe somebody’s kicked some of them out but there’s a lot more deterioration than vandalism.”