Round the clock working as Tadcaster bridge rebuild green lit

24-hour construction to take place as brewery withdraws objection.

Tadcaster

Works to rebuild and widen Tadcaster's troubled river crossing gets going as brewery drops challenge.
SDC Photo
Works to rebuild and widen Tadcaster's troubled river crossing gets going as brewery drops challenge.

Round-the-clock works to repair and rebuild Tadcaster's collapsed road bridge are now set to get underway, following the dropping of a last minute challenge by a prominent local land owner.

Planning consultants, working for Samuel Smith Old Brewery, had intervened to try to force the rejection of a planning application that called for the bridge to be widened as part of the project. The challenge was yesterday dropped however, following an outpouring of anger in the Tadcaster area.

North Yorkshire County Council will now press ahead with the work to widen and strengthen the bridge, linking the two sides of the town for the first time since the 18th century bridge's collapse, nine months ago. 

Leader of Selby District Council, Cllr Mark Crane (Con, SDC Brayton), explained, “This is great news for the whole town, as it means that the repair and improvement works can now go ahead as planned.  People living in Tadcaster and local businesses have suffered long enough through the loss of their bridge and although we have in place a temporary footbridge what we really need is the main road open once more across the river.”

North Yorkshire County Councillor Don Mackenzie (Con, Harrogate Saltergate), Executive Member for Highways, added, “It has been a long-standing aspiration of the County Council and the people of the town to improve the bridge and now we have a marvellous opportunity to deliver on this.  In the long-term these improvements will help our businesses and residents and also offer important structural improvements to help protect the bridge against future flooding.”

To enable it to press ahead with the work, the County Council’s contractor is to begin 24-hour working on Tadcaster Bridge.  Work on the bridge is dependent on river levels, and the move to 24-hour working is in anticipation of worsening autumn and winter weather that could affect water levels.  Every effort will be made to keep noise to a minimum during overnight working.

The aim is for work to be completed by the end of this year, depending on weather conditions.