I DOUBT planners who voted to remove a bridge across the River Tone in Taunton were ever asked: “What’s love got to do with it?”

And if the question made famous by Tina Turner's song had been considered, their answer would probably have been: “That’s not something we’ve considered.”

A couple of months ago, a Somerset Council committee decided to take out the footbridge connecting Morrisons to The Brewhouse.

It will be replaced by a wider construction that will allow cyclists and pedestrians to mingle as they cross at the same time without the risk of smashing into each other.

The bridge is being paid for out of the Government’s Future High Street Fund and is due to be installed soon. It will be part of a mile-long car-free route between Taunton Station and Vivary Park.

It’s a great idea, but Taunton love birds might have had something to say about it had they been consulted.

That’s because over recent years, dozens of romantics have festooned the railings of the bridge with padlocks as a public show of their commitment.

And to symbolise their bond is unbreakable, many have thrown the keys into the Tone.

Padlocks can be found on the footbridge near the Brewhouse.Padlocks can be found on the footbridge near the Brewhouse. (Image: Phil Hill) Love padlocks are believed to date back more than 100 years to the First World War.

The story goes that a Serbian couple committed to each other after falling in love.

But he was then sent to fight in Greece, where he switched his affections to a woman from Corfu and broke off his engagement to his fiancée.

She was so devastated that she is said to have died of a broken heart.

The sad tale inspired young women from the Serbian couple’s home town to write their names and those of their loved ones on padlocks, which they affixed to the railings of the bridge where the couple used to meet.

How the widened footbridge could look.How the widened footbridge could look. (Image: Stantec)

The idea seems to have caught on across Europe in more recent times.

Those romantic Parisians took things to an extreme - the railings of a bridge over the River Seine partially collapsed under the sheer weight of so many padlocks.

So what’s going to happen with the Tone locks? Hopefully, love has lasted for all the owners and the objects of their desires.

Any who failed to throw away the key should perhaps retrieve their rusty lock and maybe wait for the new bridge to be installed before attaching it there. The other couples may wish to renew their love vows by investing in new padlocks.