CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a £1.2million footbridge across Churchill Way are waiting for planning approval.

The 45m-long bridge, with two silver-painted arches, will link Festival Place and Crown Heights - a new luxury apartment block under construction. It will also provide a direct link between the bus and railway stations.

A survey, carried out by the borough in July 1999, estimated more than 3,000 people a day would use the bridge.

Plans for the bridge - commissioned by the borough council - were first made public in 1999 and received heavy criticism for wasting money.

Councillor Phil Heath (Tory, Hatch Warren & Beggarwood), who called a defeated motion to scrap the plans in 1999, told The Basingstoke Extra: "It was always dubbed 'the bridge too far'.

"It's been done for artistic reasons and safety has gone out of the window."

Pedestrian access to the bridge from the town centre will be via a spiral staircase in Festival Place tower.

However, Cllr Heath described it as "a rapist's dream".

"You can see whose coming and wait for them. Muggers can follow people across and could trap you in the enclosed space," he said, adding: "People don't like going down the stairs from car parks late at night, let alone walking across a bridge into a tower."

But Paul Morris, Festival Place senior development manager, said: "Security is our number one priority and Festival Place has been designed and built with this in mind.

"All areas of Festival Place, as with the existing centre, will be well lit and in this instance the staircase will be covered by four CCTV cameras in addition to being patrolled by security staff throughout the night."