Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) say they are acting fast to remove a ‘love lock’ that has been placed on the Eastgate Clock in Chester.
The authority say it is ‘illegal’ for anything to be put onto an official and listed scheduled monument such as the clock, due to strict heritage protection rules, but say they will keep the padlock safe so its owner can come and reclaim it.
It’s been three years since dozens of personalised locks first started appearing on the Queen’s Park suspension bridge, as symbols of everlasting love, in a craze made famous on the Pont de Arts bridge in Paris.
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But after the French bridge started to collapse under the weight of the thousands of locks left by lovers all over the world, CWaC was also forced to shoot down the romantic gestures in Chester on health and safety grounds, claiming the extra weight had brought the bridge ‘close to its theoretical capacity to resist the effects of wind loading’.
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Since then there have been a number of padlocks appearing sporadically on the bridge, but it is the first time one has appeared on the Eastgate Clock.
A council spokesperson said: “We are aware of this love lock and are in the process of removing it because placing anything onto the Eastgate Clock - an official, scheduled monument is illegal, due to its heritage.
“However, we would like to stress that we will keep the padlock safe for its owner to come and collect it.”
