Work to reopen bridges 'taking far too long'

Work to reopen two bridges closed for more than six months due to safety fears is "taking far too long", a parish council leader has said.

Underbarrow and Brigsteer bridges, over the A591 near Kendal, in Cumbria, were shut by Westmorland and Furness Council in June after an external expert report found "structural concerns".

Jamie Sunderland, chairman of Helsington Parish Council, said some rush-hour journeys to Kendal were now taking up to 45 minutes rather than 15.

Westmorland and Furness Council said it welcomed an additional £8.3m funding announced by government last month but warned "substantial further investment" would be needed to resolve local infrastructure challenges.

The bridges at Underbarrow and Brigstreer are known as half-joint bridges because their central section rests on L-shaped joints.

Possible short-term solutions suggested include propping the bridges or demolishing them and installing temporary structures.

Speaking to BBC Radio Cumbria, Sunderland said: "It's taking far too long to get any meaningful progress.

"Those of us who live on the Lyth Valley side of the closures would say we're not cut off - there are other road links - but journey times for everyone are a lot longer than they were.

"Ambulances is the issue that concerns us most. Getting one from Kendal to the communities on this side of the A591 now takes a lot, lot longer."

Sunderland also highlighted the effect "a 12 or 13-mile diversion compared to a three-mile journey" has had on the cost of taxis.

Acknowledging it was "certainly not guaranteed by any means", he said he was "hopeful for some sort of temporary fix that will get traffic over these bridges at some point this year".

However, he admitted he could not see a full restoration of the bridges "happening this year".

Earlier this week, Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, called on the government to provide emergency funding and requested the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, meet local authority representatives as a "matter of urgency".

He has since reiterated those pleas, telling BBC Radio Cumbria the situation was "deeply frustrating and damaging to communities on both sides of the A591".

"I'm not blaming the council for taking the measures it has. The problem is councils [across the country] don't have the money to replace [bridges like these].

"The government needs to step in."

The Department for Transport announced in December that Westmorland and Furness Council would receive a highways maintenance allocation of £31.05m in the 2025/26 financial year.

It consists of a baseline amount of £22.73m as well as £8.33m in new funding.

Councillor Peter Thornton, cabinet member for highways and ICT, said that additional money "offers an opportunity to make progress in addressing our significant maintenance backlog, benefiting our roads, pavements and bridges right across Westmorland and Furness".

But he added: "Addressing fundamental infrastructure challenges, many of which involve historic bridges built in the 60s and 70s, will require substantial further investment beyond this initial funding."

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