The enormous disappointment of Highways England being allowed to vandalise Great Musgrave bridge in Cumbria without scrutiny diminished a little today through the news that Eden District Council has told them to apply for retrospective planning permission.

This means that the community and invested stakeholders will get an opportunity to object, albeit after the event. If a case can be made for the application to be rejected, it raises the possibility of Highways England having to undo the infilling and restore the bridge to its previous condition.

The time limit for submission of the application is May 2022.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Baroness Vere has provided the House of Commons Transport Committee with a comprehensive misrepresentation of the facts around the bridge’s infilling. We have written to the Committee ourselves with a detailed rebuttal of her comments.

She suggested that Highways England had consulted the Eden Valley and Stainmore railways about the infilling scheme - which it hadn’t - and asserted that the work was urgent because the bridge deck could suddenly fall. The structure was, of course, absolutely fine.

But this is indicative of the shabby culture we’re having to fight against. Highways England has spent the past six months perpetuating deceit about its infilling programme. It is a matter of considerable regret that Ministers just believe whatever rubbish they’re told rather than asking appropriate questions.