Llanerch Bridge: Fear replacement is still years away

Work to replace a bridge destroyed in a storm more than three years ago is still years away from completion, councillors fear.

Llanerch Bridge, which connected Trefnant and Tremeirchion, collapsed in January 2021 after it took a battering from Storm Christoph.

Residents say this has meant bigger fuel bills, and businesses said it had caused a slump in trade.

The bridge was also a link for drivers coming off the A55.

Independent Denbighshire councillor Chris Evans feared work would not start on the new bridge at least for another year at least.

The cost was previously estimated at £10m.

He said the council had not yet provided designs for a new structure, adding: "My concern is Denbighshire's plan is to ask the Welsh government for £9.5m to build the bridge."

He feared it would be 2026 before anything happened if the Welsh government agreed.

"Residents have had enough," he said.

Conservative councillor James Elson added: "The costs will only go up with inflation, so I think if they had pulled their finger out and done it a bit quicker, it might have been cheaper."

Denbighshire council admitted there was not a definite timescale for the bridge's completion.

It believed ground investigation work would start in the next few weeks.

"Funding has been given for this phase of the work by Welsh government, but the long-term funding of the construction is still to be sought so timescales for this are not yet defined," a spokesman said.

The Welsh government said: "We have awarded £380,000 funding in 2023-24 to Denbighshire County Council for work on a new bridge across the River Clwyd, as part of our resilient roads fund."