Is MP Melanie Onn losing patience with council over slow-motion Corporation Road Bridge repair project?

                                                                 

Whatever happened to due diligence? it was originally claimed that the £5.1-million repairs project would be complete by December 2023  

GRIMSBY and Cleethorpes MP Melanie Onn will this week meet with NELC leaders to demand greater clarity on the Corporation Road Bridge repairs saga that has caused so much ongoing anguish in Grimsby.

The meeting should have been held last Friday, but, at the request of the council, it was postponed until this Friday.

Latest word from the council is that a report is still awaited on a feasibility study for the mechanics of Span 4 of the structure - the section that can be raised and lowered.

But last night Ms Onn demanded: "Why is it only now - so late in the project - that this study is being sought?

"The closure has divided Grimsby in two, hit businesses, clogged traffic and caused multiple other disruptions.

"There has not been a great deal of clarity from the council, and  I will keep pressing for regular updates."

                                              

Melanie Onn - quiet word with ministers?

The MP said she was encouraged by the recent removal of weatherproof coverings which she took as a sign of progress, but she warned that,  if the repairs were to fall even further behind schedule, she would be "in touch with her ministerial colleagues".

Meanwhile, in a Q&A session conducted live on Facebook on Monday, NELC's portfolio holder with responsibility for the bridge, Cllr Stewart Swinburn (Con, Immingham), expressed the hope that the troubled bridge would re-open to traffic in "the summer" - but, perhaps deliberately, he did not state the summer of which year.

It is not known whether the latest feasibility was carried out by an independent engineering consultancy or by the contractors, the Hull-based Spencer Group.

Repair work started in February 2023 with a target date for completion of December in that year.

The total budget was £5.1-million, with  £2.97-million coming from the Department of Transport, £1.83-million from NELC and  £320, 000 from another transport funding source.

There there has been no insight yet from the council on how much the repairs have so far  overshot the original budget, nor the likely size of the final bill  - and, crucially, who will foot it.

The Grimsby News says: The snail's pace progress on the bridge scarcely inspires confidence in NELC's capability to complete projects on time and within budget. This is worrying - particularly  given that it has lined up a raft of even more expensive infrastructure schemes for Grimsby and Cleethorpes - all to run concurrently - in the months ahead. Credit is due to to the NELC leadership for its ambition, but does the authority have sufficient staff with the skill, experience and determination to achieve its lofty aspirations? On the question of the bridge, the MP is right. Greater transparency would be welcome. When it is available, NELC should publish on its website the full feasibility report. It should also clarify all costings and state out of whose purse they will have to be met.