A CAMPAIGNER has vowed to fight on after the Government snubbed a call for a footbridge linking a village and Oxford to be upgraded.

Peter Rawcliffe said South Hinksey Parish Council would push for cash from other sources to make the bridge more accessible.

The long footbridge over the sidings between South Hinksey and South Oxford will be replaced as part of Government railway electrification plans.

Villagers said it was an opportunity to add ramps so elderly and disabled people, and mums with buggies, would no longer have to climb two steep flights of steps.

But Network Rail said it only has Department for Transport cash for a like-for-like replacement and to increase the height of the bridge.

Mr Rawcliffe, a co-opted member of the council, said members would look for other sources of Government funding.

He said: “It is disappointing but it is not the end of the line, no pun intended.

“We have to redirect our efforts to Network Rail. It is not over by any means.”

The bridge is expected to open in 2014 as part of plans to electrify lines in the region.