Work starts on new bridge in Worcester

Work to build a new multi-million-pound bridge across the River Severn in Worcester has started.

Worcestershire County Council said preparations are currently being made to build the new walking and cycling bridge from Gheluvelt Park to the former Kepax landfill site in Worcester ahead of the main work starting towards the end of the year.

Workers have been in the city park for the last week digging what looks like foundations for the new bridge.

The county council said the new bridge is an important part of its walking and cycling plans and believes it will lead to improvements in active travel infrastructure in Worcester and the wider county.

This comes after the council was told it cannot be trusted to use money for walking and cycling correctly until it improves as part of a ‘zero’ rating by government body Active Travel England.

The embarrassing rating was given to the council for not even meeting the ‘minimum standards’ of political leadership on boosting walking and cycling in the county and for its lacklustre track record of providing improvements.

Last month, it was revealed that the cost of building the new bridge had almost doubled to nearly £16 million – up from around £9 million three years ago.

The council blamed inflation and rising costs for the spiralling budget but says it will still be able to afford the bridge.

The council has said it can pay for the bridge if it moves around some of the money in its existing budgets and makes big cuts – including important funds for maintaining roads and infrastructure – to its own capital spending.

It has been almost a year since the council received planning permission for the bridge and work now finally looks set to have started.

A decision was expected to be made last July but concerned councillors delayed a decision until they were reassured the bridge would link with walking and cycling routes.

The hold-up led worried council bosses to share “grave concerns” over the future of the bridge fearing the authority could lose out on millions of pounds of government funding.

The committee met again in September with the council left breathing a huge sigh of relief when the plan was eventually ushered through.