A new bridge costing 735,000 has had strengthening work carried out after it was found to sway.

Cutteslowe Bridge, across the A40, was discovered to have "vertical movement" as planners carried out inspections before it was due to open in July.

A temporary support was put in place on the run-up to the cycle and pedestrian bridge's south side, where the fault was discovered.

Now a permanent beam is being put in place and work is expected to end within a week.

The incident provides a bizarre parallel to the Millennium bridge saga in London earlier this year, when a prestigious, newly-opened footbridge across the River Thames near the Tate Modern art gallery was found to sway alarmingly when people walked on it. The bridge was closed to the public straight away.

The Cutteslowe bridge, part of the national cycle network, was installed by the Highways Agency to give people living south of the A40 at Cutteslowe more convenient access to the park and shops.

A spokesman told the Oxford Mail: "It was only at the final stages of inspection that vertical movement was found and that's when we decided to install the support to see if that helped.

"We're now replacing that with a permanent support and that work should be finished shortly." He said the fault had at no time placed anyone in danger and they had received no complaints about the bridge since it had opened.

The bridge is also used by pupils attending Cutteslowe First School.

The school said it was a popular route and nobody had complained about it or said they had experienced problems.