WARRINGTON South MP Faisal Rashid has launched a scathing attack on Peel Ports for massive delays in refurbishing the town’s three swing bridges – after hearing that work on one bridge will take six months to complete and result in full closure to traffic and pedestrians.
He says local residents and councillors have been calling for these works for several years, expressing anger and frustration over the lack of action.
Towards the end of last year Faisal wrote to the Chief Executive of Peel Ports, Mark Whitworth, to raise concerns about the maintenance of the swing bridges in Warrington South.
In his letter Faisal said that the bridges were in a poor state of repair and in desperate need of painting. He asked for assurances that the work would be carried out, as had been previously promised.
Following receipt of Peel Ports’ response to his letter, Faisal held talks with Peel Ports and Warrington Borough Council to discuss a way forward with the works.
He said: “After years of delays, my constituents are utterly fed-up with the lack of any action from Peel Ports to improve the appearance of the swing bridges. I share their anger and frustration.
“Each of the three bridges, located on Chester Road, London Road and Knutsford Road, have been left in a poor state. They are in desperate need of attention and quite frankly I am disgusted that it has taken Peel Ports so long to act. Our town deserves better.
“At our recent meeting I managed to get Peel Ports to commit to action on this issue. Peel Ports have agreed to bring forward a project plan for the refurbishment, starting with the London Road bridge in Stockton Heath. However, they say that the work to paint and carry out full maintenance will take 6 months and will mean the full closure of the bridge during this period – including no access for pedestrians.
“I have real concerns about the proposed length of time that Peel Ports say the bridges could be closed during the refurbishment works. Given this I will be conducting a survey with local residents shortly to find out how they feel about the proposed disruption. I have also requested that the Council investigate this issue further to see whether the duration of the works can be reduced so as to mitigate any impact on local residents.
“Due to the timing of the work on the Centre Park Link, the Council have stated that they will be making their own enquiries including evaluating how long the work to paint the bridge will take, what impact the bridge closure will have on the area and how residents feel about the full closure. Given the likely impact of the works, it is absolutely crucial that Peel Ports and the Council get this issue right.
“Discussions on the logistics of the work are ongoing. However, I am pleased that following our talks, there is now a commitment to carry out these much-needed refurbishments.”
3 Comments
Alsready other con jester roads will be effected and how are people supposed to get to work and school if they cross the bridge by foot or bike? Peel Ports she fined, especially after the council have had to lay them for the other crossing.
Perhaps WBC should dig out records showing how long it took to repaint the bridges before Peel took them over, and whether they were totally closed to both foot and motor traffic. I wouldn’t mind betting they will find that the planned disruption by Peel is far greater than that of their predecessors. Perhaps Peel are just trying to delay the work further whilst WBC mulls over the potential impact of the proposed plans.
totally unnecessary for total closure. Protective scaffolding can be installed to half the bridge leaving one lane available for traffic, admittedly traffic flow would have to be traffic light controlled BUT if the traffic management plan was looked at for ALL the traffic lights in that area then a solution can be made to reduce the hold ups. Delays are inevitable and diversions required but at least pedestrians and some traffic would be able to use the bridge whilst work was progressing.