Town council calls for re-think over £5m footbridge

Oswestry Town Council has written to Shropshire Council over its concerns about the proposals for the bridge on the outskirts of Oswestry, which would allow people to get from the town to the planned innovation park at Mile End.

Planning approval for the £5m bridge was approved in February last year.

However, Oswestry Town Council has listed a number of concerns over the proposal – particularly that it does not meet required standards for cyclists, would be inaccessible for some people with disabilities, and also over the way it will look.

The town council has now written to Shropshire Council, which is behind the plans for the bridge and the innovation park, to call for a new design to be drawn up for the bridge.

In response Shropshire Council has said any changes to the plans could not lead to an increase in costs of £1m to £2m.

The minutes from the meeting of Oswestry council earlier this month state: “In September 2020 Shropshire Council adopted LTN 1/20 which set out new standards for cycling provision and accessibility.

“Five months after adopting this standard the council are considering to construct a bridge to the innovation park which does not meet the standard.

“Its design will require a cyclist to dismount up to six times and would be inaccessible to many disabled people.

“The Future Oswestry Group along with others had not been consulted about the new design which was brought out in June, and it was felt this design would have very high risks particularly for any future funding for active travel.”

The development is only one element of major changes to the Mile End area, and the proposed access to the new innovation park.

Shropshire Council has created a new double roundabout structure linking the A5 and the previous Mile End roundabout, intended to reduce traffic and provide access to the innovation park.

Responding to the letter Ed Potter, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for economic growth, regeneration and planning, said: “The bridge has gone through a rigorous planning process, achieved approval by Shropshire Council as the Technical Approval Authority, and Design/Check certificates have been approved and signed off.

“The council has already spent circa £1m on securing the steel and vesting the material. Revisiting the design at this stage will mean significant delays and will incur substantial additional fees. It will seriously affect the programme, impact on funding conditions, output delivery and ultimately may make the whole project – including the interlined Oswestry Innovation Park – unviable.

“The opportunity for querying the design of the bridge was during the planning process but this has since been determined and the design is fixed.

“The technical aspects and useability have been fully agreed and approved and we are now moving towards putting in place the appropriate construction contracts. Any deviation from this will delay matters and could ultimately make the bridge and the Innovation Park unviable.

“As such, the infrastructure that is being provided is appropriate, meets the needs of the end user, housing and growth aspirations and aligns with technical and design standards where required, appropriate, deliverable and affordable.

“We have previously discussed and explained to the DfT as to why the structure is not LTN 1/20 compliant and the explanation was accepted and agreed which enabled this design to progress.

“The reason for it not being LTN1/20 compliant is that it is at the end destination point, has very low projected cyclist usage in the future and costs to make it comply were indicated at being an extra £1m – £2m. That was before the commercial/financial crisis hit with astronomically rising prices which could see a final price tag for the bridge reaching £8m to make it compliant – the price currently is circa £5m.

"This includes costs for the design and construction plus the increases due to inflation that have been brought to bear, and aligns with both the available funding and funders contractual requirements.”