SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNCIL

At the presentation of the campaign's petition and statement to South Gloucestershire Council on the 20 May 2009, it was pointed out to the Council that the new replacement bridge repeated the alignment failings of the old bridge, as follows,

"A contribution of £200,000 pounds to the bridge replacement was approved by this Council in 2008. Item 12 of the Technical Briefing Report by the Highways Structures Team in 2007 does not allow for any changes to the highway and footway alignments.

The Network Rail drawings show the alignment of the new bridge and the pinch point to be identical to the old bridge. This was a deliberate decision by this 4 Star Council".

ITEM 12 OF THE REPORT SAID
If Network Rail increase the carrying capacity of the structure to 40T, but do not include any changes to the highway or footway alignments, South Gloucestershire Council will need to contribute between £175,000 and £200,000. The Council’s contribution would be capped at the upper figure of £200,000.

Two supplementary questions were permitted at the Council meeting, these were,

SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION NO 1
Would you say that these policies caused you to reject Item 11 of the Technical Briefing Report you received from the Highways Structures Team in 2007? That’s the item which gives you the option of removing the 7.5T weight restriction in Hallen and creating a new restriction at the railway bridge?

ITEM 11 OF THE REPORT SAID
If Network Rail are to strengthen the bridge to 24T, there will be no cost to the Council for the bridge works. However, a scheme will have to be included in the Capital programme for 2008/2009 to process a weak bridge order and rescind the existing 7.5T weight limit in Hallen Village. A further 7.5T environmental weight restriction in the vicinity of the bridge would need to be put in place to prevent large vehicles using Hallen Road as a through route from Avonmouth into Henbury. The estimated cost of processing the weight restriction orders would be in the region of £12,000.

THE COUNCIL'S ANSWER
We work to the recommendations in “BD 79/06 Management of sub-standard highway structures” which requires us to put in place plans to bring all structures up to the National Load Carrying Capacity. Network Rail were going to replace the bridge deck anyway and so we took the opportunity to bring the carrying capacity of the bridge up to the National Load Carrying Capacity of 40/44Tonnes.

SUPPLENTARY QUESTION NO 2
Would you say that this concern caused you to reject Item 13 of the Technical Briefing Report? That’s the option which realigns the railway bridge and removes the pinch point. Was this item rejected on financial or safety grounds?

ITEM 13 OF THE REPORT SAID
If Network Rail increase the carrying capacity of the structure to 40T and realign the highway, removing the pinch point at the North West end of the bridge, South Gloucestershire Council will need to contribute a maximum of £300,000. The contribution would be capped at this level.

THE COUNCIL'S ANSWER
Network Rail are going to replace the bridge deck on the same horizontal alignment as the original bridge without removing the pinch point in the highway (which is seen as a speed reduction measure). The only change South Gloucestershire has committed to is to increase the carrying capacity of the bridge to 40/44 tonnes.

The basic question was, when you have three options, why did you go for Item 12, over Items 11 and 13? We believe that the deliberate policy to send all fuel tankers into North West Bristol suburban roads is plain for all to see. But South Gloucestershire are apparently blind to the error of their decision, but then they have to be now , don't they, "lets see if we can get out of this by jargon and bluff".

No chance, watch this space.