We are grateful to Neil Read, Chairman of Gressingham Parish Council, for this report on his questions to Lancashire County Council:

Here is the (edited) response to some points I put recently (11th February) to the Principal Engineer, Bridges Design and Construction, Lancashire County Council:

Question. What is preventing you starting work immediately?

Answer. We need to obtain consent from the Environment Agency, who will scrutinise our proposals and issue consent in due course. We have had a meeting with them and they have responded positively to our proposals. I anticipate we will have the consent before the 24 February 2016.

We also need to obtain consent from Historic England as the structure is a Scheduled Monument. We have met with them on site and they have no objections in principle and we expect their consent in due course.

Generally the weather is still not favourable, and we would be remiss in our duties if we removed the stone protection that is currently in place when the risk of further damage being caused, within the window of repair, is significant. I appreciate that the river levels vary significantly all through the year and that we could have the same problem 24 February 2016. I cannot however authorise works to commence without the legally required consents which I am sure will be dealt with expediently. The issue is perhaps also whether we the people of Lancashire are prepared to take the risk of carrying out works and having to abandon as a result of another storm (i.e. further delay and cost) or worse still see the collapse of the structure.

In 2010-11 works to protect the stone apron around the west pier had to be abandoned due to the installed protection being washed away. Eventually we managed to complete the works in 2012. In 2015, due to the continued erosion of the banks leading up to the bridge, we protected the structure with soft landscaping works to the west bank. We currently have a consent from the Environment Agency in place for carrying out specific soft landscaping works to the east side as well. However the works rely on land owners consent and the seasonally appropriate timing of planting willow and thus have yet to be carried out. Hopefully we will be able to do this as part of the package of works now required.

Question. There is growing frustration that there appears to be no work ongoing towards solving this problem. This is understandable, as it is a 30-mile round trip between Gressingham and Hornby!

Answer. Due to the load path of traversing vehicles affecting the damaged area, and the vibration caused by vehicles as they cross, the bridge necessarily stays closed until a structural repair has been implemented. I do understand the frustrations of the locals and can assure you that we are wanting to progress with works as soon as possible so that the bridge can be re-opened.

Additionally, a press release gives this information:

Indicative dates for repairs 24 February to 20 May.   Hope to get on site later this month, weather permitting, and work will take around 12 weeks.

In addition to the obvious damage to the bridge piers, there is also some damage around the foundations of the bridge underwater, where the water has scoured holes which need to be filled with stone.

Reconstruction of the piers and repairs to foundations repaired will take 3-4 weeks, and we’ll be able to reopen the bridge once this is done. Further work to protect the bridge will follow on immediately and take another 8 weeks or so. This involves removing a build-up of 30-40mm gravel which is banked up before the bridge and which over time will erode the river bank and bridge foundations if not removed. There will also be work to protect the bank from erosion (work to protect the bank on one side was carried out last year and we now have EA permission to protect the other bank).

Neil Read
Gressingham Parish Council