Council wants talks on swing bridge closures

TOWN Hall chiefs at Warrington want urgent talks with Manchester Ship Canal owners Peel Ports about minimising disruption caused by the increasing frequency of swing bridge openings.
The council has stressed that while it can take action to help minimise the disruption, only Peel has the power to decide when and when not to open the bridges for shipping.
A council spokesperson said: “The Manchester Ship Canal Act of 1885 gives Peel Ports a lot of power. But things have changed a great deal since 1885 and Peel need to acknowledge this.
“If they don’t, they could cause avoidable traffic problems in and around Warrington. They could cause increasing annoyance to residents, businesses, visitors and through-traffic and they could risk harming our local economy.”
The spokesperson said Peel needed to understand that with power came responsibility.
“If they operate their bridges in a purely self-interested way, if they don’t take into account other people’s needs, they’ll cause problems.
“The council can help minimise the problems, but Peel must play their part, and we need them to make a reasonable compromise as soon as possible. That’s why we’ve asked for top-level meetings to sort this issue out.
“Warrington Borough Council is confident that we can find a sensible way of working, provided Peel are prepared to give a little. The council will be bringing a set of reasonable, businesslike proposals to these talks, and we hope to come to a workable agreement.”
The council says that key to the matter is to restrict the number of bridge swings during peak periods to a minimum.
Supporting measures could include:
*Providing advanced warning of planned shipping movements to stakeholders
through the use of an early warning system. Information could be disseminated via the internet, social media, text messaging, mobile phone apps and other means.
*Looking at modernising the bridges so that they swing faster, thus shortening the times when road traffic is halted.
*Using the council’s swing bridge signs to inform the travelling public that a bridge has swung and that this is the reason for the delay – thus minimising the uncertainty felt by road users who might not otherwise know how long they might be delayed for.
*Working to increase the proportion of sailings during the off-peak and night-time periods.
Peel Ports expects about 720 vessels to sail through Warrington this year – with 124 of them during peak periods.
It has been estimated that it takes several hours for traffic to return to normal in Warrington when a ship sails through because of the three swing bridges at Walton, Stockton Heath and Latchford have to close to road traffic.
Gary Hodgson, chief operating officer of the Peel Ports Group said: “We are somewhat disappointed by Warrington Borough Council’s comments regarding the swing bridges in Warrington as we have been engaged in active – and what we thought was constructive – dialogue with the cabinet member for transportation as well as with other senior highways officials within the council.
“The comments issued by Warrington Borough Council seem to suggest some disconnect within the council organisation. In a series of meetings with them over the last two years we have discussed and agreed a number of actions to mitigate the issues associated with the swing bridges; actions which are exactly in line with the proposed support measures that the council details in its comments today. Peel Ports has already implemented a number of these measures, including increasing the number of night time and off-peak sailings, to help ease traffic issues in Warrington.
“Further to that, Peel Ports has also carried out all the required actions to support an ‘early warning’ swing bridge alert system; we now just await implementation of the messaging by Warrington Borough Council on their signage and matrix warning infrastructure.
“We want to work productively with Warrington Borough Council on this issue and look forward to continuing our dialogue with them at the earliest opportunity.”