Doubts over Tyne Bridge repair work
Local Democracy Reporter GOVERNMENT ministers have revealed much-needed support to restore the Tyne Bridge to its former glory – but city bosses are still sweating over whether they will be handed the £40m they need.
News emerged ahead of the Conservative Party conference that Chancellor Sajid Javid was due to commit cash to the long-awaited repair of the iconic structure and the Central Motorway.
But it has now been confirmed that the Treasury is, for now, only providing enough money to help Tyneside council chiefs to further develop the business case for the huge project.
Whether or not a £40m Transport for the North bid, which would allow the works to go ahead, will be approved remains in the balance.
Announcing an “infrastructure revolution” at the party conference in Manchester, Mr Javid confirmed investment in a number of road projects. But details released after his speech show that the Tyne Bridge scheme is one of seven to be awarded an unspecified amount of ‘development funding,’ rather than big sums of cash to start construction.
Coun Arlene Ainsley, Newcastle City Council’s cabinet member for transport and air quality, said: “Improvements and maintenance on the Tyne Bridge and Central Motorway are very much needed, and we know that this is something the public would like to see happen. However, for this to go ahead we need significant investment from government. The funding confirmed by Department for Transport today will enable us to further develop these proposals but this only gets us so far.
“For the full works to go ahead we require £40m and a bid has been submitted through Transport for the North. We are currently awaiting a decision on this.”
As well as securing the future of the iconic crossing, the £40m funding is also vital to the authority’s hopes of reducing toxic levels of air pollution. In addition to plans to impose a clean air toll on certain vehicles driving into the city centre from 2021, the council is also planning to reconfigure the bridge to reduce general traffic to one lane in each direction – in the hope of convincing car owners to use public transport instead.
Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon recently warned that a failure to secure the necessary government funding would leave cash-strapped local councils to either pick up the bill or face a total closure and even the collapse of the 90-year-old bridge.
Council bosses on either side of the river have long struggled to find the funding needed to renovate the historic crossing, which last underwent major maintenance two decades ago.
It was hoped that the overdue restoration would have started last year, but Newcastle and Gateshead councils pushed that back to 2020 at the earliest, amid complaints that no government cash had been made available to bid for before this year. The maintenance would include steelwork repairs, extensive repainting, stonework and masonry repairs, waterproofing, and bridge joint replacement, among other fixes. Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon