Work to remove the infill from Cumbria's Great Musgrave bridge is underway, ahead of the 11 October deadline set by the now-defunct Eden District Council. Obviously, this is welcome news; however, there remains a lack of trust arising from National Highways' continued unwillingness to be honest about the circumstances around the scheme.
As the video below makes clear, NH was dishonest about its lack of dialogue with stakeholders, misled everyone regarding the Council's efforts to prevent the work from starting, and continues to misrepresent its own engineering evidence about the bridge's condition prior to infilling. This means that more taxpayers' money is likely to be wasted on unnecessary strengthening.
Elsewhere, the retrospective planning application to retain the infill at Congham bridge near King's Lynn is likely to be determined by the local council's planning committee in the next six weeks. More than 350 people have so far objected amidst more distorted claims from NH about the risks associated with the structure - a rare-surviving example of a modular concrete bridge built using a system devised by renowned engineer William Marriott.
Of concern is National Highways' proposal to infill six structures and demolish a seventh in the current financial year, subject to Ministerial approval and, in most cases, planning permission. One of these schemes - estimated to cost £240K - is being progressed because of reported anti-social behaviour, not because of substantive safety concerns.
The threat to our nation’s legacy railway structures has diminished, but it's far from gone. A new management and decision-making process has been implemented by National Highways. What's not yet clear is whether the culture that drove its proposed programme of 134 infillings and demolitions - revealed in January 2021 - has changed. Only time will tell on that score.
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