Posted on Tuesday 28th January 2025
Engineers from Staffordshire County Council will be showcasing their plans for Branston Bridge in a local exhibition.
The event, which will take place at the Scout hut on Main Street on 4 February between 9.15am and 6pm, will give people the opportunity to view plans and ask key questions.
If approved, plans for an interim solution for the bridge will allow it to reopen to traffic once more. The works are designed to extend the life of the bridge by around 10 to 15 years, will cost around £500,000 and will be funded by Staffordshire County Council.
It is estimated they will take around three months to complete.
A new bridge would cost in the region of £20 to £30 million. As county councils are not funded to deliver high-cost infrastructure projects such as new bridges, funding for a new bridge would need to be secured from central government.
Staffordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Strategic Highways Mark Deaville said:
“We look forward to welcoming people to this public exhibition, which will showcase the complex nature of the issue and how hard our engineers have been working to find a solution that will allow the bridge to open to traffic once more. There will be an opportunity to view plans, and hear from our engineers and other technical members of the team on the work involved.
“Of course, our proposed solution is an interim one, which should last between 10-15 years. A new bridge would cost in the region of £30 million—this is six-times our annual maintenance budget for structures such as bridges, which is £5 million.
“Therefore, we will need to secure money from central government to fund any new bridge, and we are grateful for the support of our local communities and MPs to help secure the funding we need.”
For those unable to attend the exhibition, details will also be published online at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/branstonbridge.