STAIRS on a bridge which provide a vital link to Welwyn Garden City’s town centre are “dangerous” and have to be repaired.

The metal steps on the raised walkway at the town’s railway station have corroded and Network Rail has to fix the problem – however there may be some concerns about its long term future.

Welwyn Hatfield Council has slapped a public notice on the bridge and now the rail firm must repair the steps.

A spokeswoman for the authority said: “An incident arose where we became aware of a failure to some clamps holding the panels to the intermediate landing on the stairway, which had become detached.

“This meant the platform moved when pressure was applied, and was unsafe to walk on.

“An additional supporting steel member had rotted which increased the potential risk from the missing clamp.

“The immediate risk was removed by Network Rail’s own staff, although we are corresponding with Network Rail to ascertain the longer term stability of the structure.”

Engineers will be on site in the coming weeks to start the work on the stairs and there will also be improvements to the bridge.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said: “We have a scheme to provide temporary propping to the spans of the bridge which will start on site following permission being granted by Tesco’s to access their land below it to do the work.

“Repair works to the staircases are also planned and will take place in the next few weeks.”