Imminent start for works to reunite severed halves of Tadcaster

Construction on Tadcaster's eagerly awaited temporary footbridge is set to get under way on Monday.

North Yorkshire County Council says its contractors will be on site 12 hours a day, seven days a week as it attempts to reinstate access over the River Wharfe as soon as possible.

The temporary metal bridge is to be assembled by joining prefabricated sections on site before being pushed across the river. Work to cantilever the bridge over the river is then hoped to start on Friday and is expected to take a further week to complete.

Arguments over the siting of the bridge mean the temporary crossing will span the Wharfe from the Selby District Council owned car park on the eastern side of Tadcaster across to Tadcaster Town Council land on the western side. The access path will lead through Tadcaster Albion Football Club's car park.

The main road bridge remains closed since its partial collapse during flooding over the Christmas period. The town has remained physically divided since this time.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Highways said the council’s contractor would be working flat out to get the footbridge built within the shortest time possible. He said: “The sooner we can get the town connected again the better for everybody concerned, residents, business and visitors.

“I commend the tremendous community spirit of the town and all who have been involved in finding this alternative solution for the temporary footbridge – especially the football club! The County Council will now make every effort to get the footbridge installed as quickly as possible.

“In the meantime we will also get on with the painstaking work of reconstructing the main bridge. A listed 18th century bridge of this nature, requires complex operations by our contractors and engineers, but again, we will endeavour to finish the work as soon as we can. We estimate the works will take about 12 months to complete.”

Demolition contractors will begin work on Monday to salvage stones from the bridge that fell into the river. They will also remove bits of the bridge that are unsafe in order for the bridge to be made safe to start work on. They will also examine the damage to the base of the pier in order to work out how the bridge can be reconstructed.

“We have been waiting for the river level to fall so that we could go in and safely carry out this work” said Cllr Mackenzie.

River levels have now fallen sufficiently for the contractors to build pontoons into the river in order to carry out the salvage and inspection work.