A FORMER town mayor wants a world-famous North Wales bridge to be given a new lease of life. Elwyn Gray Hughes crosses the Menai Suspension bridge spanning the Menai Strait every morning.
 He believes the time is right to give Thomas Telford's masterpiece a new image by changing its colour from miserable grey to brilliant white (pictured as it would look). Mr Hughes, ex-mayor of Menai Bridge, has been campaigning for three years. He wants the National Assembly to do something about the neglected 177-year-old bridge. He has built up a dossier of complaints about its tarnished, rusting condition, and has recruited local politicians, including Ynys Môn MP Albert Owen, to bring pressure on highways bosses based in Cardiff. The bridge is due to be repainted in 2005. "It was last done in the early 1990s and since them all they have been doing is the odd bit of touching-up here and there. "It just looks shabby and needs brightening up. It has been grey as long as I can remember and as far as I am concerned it doesn't present the right image to the tourists."
 Because the bridge is a listed building Mr Hughes has been told any change to the existing colour will need approval from CADW, the organisation responsible for historical sites and monuments in Wales, "I am writing to CADW to see what they say," said Mr Hughes. "I was driving down towards the bridge the other day and just felt something needs to be done. "It is such a wonderful structure. I just felt it needed a face-lift and just thought painting it white would be a good idea." Meanwhile the latest round of repair work on the bridge is due to finish soon. So far specialist contractors have replaced corroded lattice panels around the chain tunnels on the Anglesey side, as well as replacing and repairing rusting handrails. | 
