The Government is yet to hand over tens of millions of pounds promised for the restoration of the Tyne Bridge, just weeks before major works are meant to start.
Council bosses on Tyneside hope that the main phase of the iconic landmark’s long-awaited refurbishment will begin early in 2024, so that the four-year repairs project can be completed in time to celebrate the bridge’s centenary in October 2028.
But, 18 months after the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that it would pay for the bulk of the huge maintenance scheme, local officials are still waiting for the Government to give the final sign-off on the plans and deliver the cash.
Ministers and Whitehall civil servants have now been urged to get the funding into the hands of Newcastle and Gateshead councils as quickly as possible, or risk the rusted bridge deteriorating even more and the costs of the revamp spiralling further.
The DfT said on Friday that “details related to funding will be confirmed in due course”.
A much-needed facelift for the Tyne Bridge has been high on the wishlist of North East leaders for years, with the grade II* listed structure in need of significant structural repairs as well as a new paint job in what will be its first major maintenance for more than 20 years.
The works are expected to result in severe disruption on the region’s roads until 2028, with engineers having to shut two out of four lanes on what is a key route in and out of Newcastle city centre that carries up to 70,000 vehicles per day.
After heavy local campaigning, the Government announced in June 2022 that it would put £35.3m into a project to refurbish both the bridge and the Central Motorway.
Under Rishi Sunak’s Network North pledges made after the scrapping of HS2’s northern leg, an uplift in funding has been promised to cover the full £41.4m budget.
While some initial, council-funded works have already begun on the Gateshead side of the bridge, local authority transport chiefs confirmed on Thursday that they are still waiting for the DfT to formally approve a final business case which was submitted to them in July this year and to provide the money that will allow the main section of the project to proceed.
Alastair Swan, principal engineer at Newcastle City Council, told councillors on Thursday that he “can’t envisage” the funding coming through before 2023 ends and warned: “As time goes by, the condition of the structure deteriorates and the costs go up.”
Inflated prices and the fact that the bridge is in a worse state of disrepair than was originally thought have already seen the estimated cost of its restoration jump by almost £12m – meaning that the scale of the planned works on the Central Motorway has been reduced.
Labour councillor John McElroy, Gateshead Council’s cabinet member for transport, told a meeting of the area’s Joint Bridges Committee that the bridge project is “ready to go” and needs to be started “as soon as possible”.
Mr Swan added that, because of the uncertainty over a start date, the two councils had delayed a public information drive aimed at informing drivers about the engineering works and urging them to change their travel plans to avoid the expected traffic jams.
Once the lane closures are in place on the bridge, transport officials expect that motorists will experience delays of 30 to 40 minutes when trying to cross the Tyne – with Mr Swan saying that the famous crossing’s importance and central location make the disruption “inevitable”.
Coun Pauline Allen, a Lib Dem representative in Newcastle, said: “We are all really proud of the bridge and we want this work to be done, but we need to get it done correctly as well. The complaints I am getting from residents at the moment are all to do with transport and getting around.
“For example, puddles and leaves in cycle lanes, loose paving stones up and down Northumberland Street, buses being gridlocked, problems with works going on in the city centre, getting grants for the Clean Air Zone, complaints about low traffic neighbourhoods. At the moment there are a lot of transport issues being raised.
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“We all want the Tyne Bridge to be sorted but we want it done properly and to inconvenience people as little as possible.”
A DfT spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Friday: “As part of Network North, we’ve committed to improving the Tyne Bridge and A167 Central Motorway in the North East, subject to necessary approvals. We will discuss individual schemes with local authorities, and details related to funding will be confirmed in due course.”