The bridge carrying St Andrew’s Lane over the former Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway at Congham, Norfolk was an elaborate and eye-catching structure. An early example of its type, dating from 1926, it was one of six partly or completely rebuilt using a modular bridge-building system developed by pioneering engineer William Marriott who had brought together his previous work on block casting and concrete reinforcement.
But the structure was infilled by National Highways in 2021 without any thought to its role as a reminder of our past, an important feature within the local landscape or an infrastructure asset with potential future value. The company also didn’t consider the environmental impacts of quarrying, transporting and placing more than a thousand tonnes of aggregate and concrete in a rural setting.
Only two of the six Marriott bridges now survive.
National Highways saw this structure as a liability and wanted rid of it. To do so, it exploited permitted development rights applying only to immediate, temporary works in emergency situations. But the infilling was intended to be permanent and took place 17 months after the company notified the local authority of its plans. No evidence of an emergency was provided; the bridge’s condition was Fair.
Because National Highways breached those permitted development rights by failing to seek written consent for retention of the infill beyond the maximum 12-month permitted period, the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk has asked it to submit a retrospective planning application.
The company’s behaviour undermines trust and confidence in public bodies. We believe the bridge should be sympathetically repaired as an important heritage asset, restoring its availability for any possible repurposing.
Can we please ask you to OBJECT to National Highways’ planning application to retain the infill at St Andrew’s Lane bridge. You can do so online via the local council’s planning portal using the following link. It should only take a few minutes…
Our website has a page of background information which you could use to help formulate your objection…
http://thehregroup.org/structures/congham
Thank you very much for your support.