Dear Sir,
I am writing in response to the letter in last week’s Newton News headlined ‘Closed Bridge’, to provide an update on the footbridge near Brockett Close.
First and foremost we would like to assure the writer of the letter that the safety of all pedestrians is of paramount importance to us.
We inspected the footbridge in April and noted that three deck planks at the northern end were loose due to rot in the underlying main timber deck beams.
The damage was minor and an instruction was issued for the rotten wood to be removed and new timber introduced to allow the decking to be secured.
At that time the bridge was temporarily closed while further checks were made.
The bridge was then opened and has been available for use until recently.
We recently closed the bridge again to allow removal of the decking to patch the main beams.
Unfortunately, when the decking was removed it was found that the rot was more extensive than initially thought and the work was stopped to allow more extensive repairs to be programmed.
This work has now been ordered and design and procurement has commenced.
It is anticipated that the work will be complete by the end of this year.
We appreciate that this may not be as soon as the writer of last week’s letter would like but complex work like this does take time.
The writer can rest assured we will do everything we can to complete the work as soon as we can.
Paul Watson
Strategic Highways Manager
Durham County Council