A £300,000 project to repair an out-of-bounds Carlisle bridge will begin next week - but work will not be completed until November.

The memorial footbridge, in Rickerby Park, was closed in June following a structural assessment that found it needed to be strengthened.

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council told The Cumberland News that Penrith-based Metcalfe Civil Engineering has been appointed as principal contractor for the structure, also known as the suspension bridge.

He said: "The compound is being put up this week, which includes getting scaffolding in place.

"Work is due to commence on Monday."

Work will be undertaken on four key joints in the suspended central part of the bridge.

It means the central section must be raised in order to gain access.

The bridge will then be lowered back into place and bolted back together.

The memorial footbridge was acquired for the public through the efforts of the Carlisle Citizens League in memory of those who gave their lives in World War One.

Anne Williams, chairwoman of the Friends of Rickerby Park, said that work needed to be completed in time for this year's Remembrance Day service.

"We're having an act of remembrance in the park on November 11," she said.

"So we think that it needs to be open by then.

"We're glad that work is starting - but we've also seen the inconvenience that the bridge being closed has caused."

The bridge was opened on May 25, 1922 and forms part of the Hadrian's Cycleway and National Cycle Network route 72, which runs from Ravenglass in west Cumbria to South Shields, in the north east.

Four anchors at each end of the bridge as well as some of the main structural steelwork will also be strengthened to ensure that the bridge is in a safe condition.

Cumbria County Council said that fabrication of the steelwork started on July 19 to ensure that work could begin on time.

Consultations have also taken place with the organisers of the Great Cumbrian Run, which is taking place on October 1.

An amended route has been confirmed so that runners will avoid the closed bridge.