Fed up with being fobbed off! NELC leader has lost faith with officers over ongoing bridge fiasco

                                      

Troubled bridge over still water - does anyone know what's going on?

The leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, Cllr Oliver Freeston, has expressed outrage after learning that the proposed reopening of Grimsby’s long-closed Corporation Road bridge has been put back from December this year until possibly May 2027 ("though no one really has a clue").  He has taken the unprecedented step of publicly condemning senior council officers - and the previous Conservative administration - not only for their lack of grip on the project but also for their readiness to "sweep failures under the carpet", their "corporate waffle", their lack of urgency and for their failure to be upfront with council taxpayers about the circumstances surrounding what  he describes as "one of the darkest stains in the council’s history". This is the full statement issued earlier this evening by Cllr Freeston.

As you will know, work on Corporation Bridge began in February 2023. Following significant delays and difficulties, the Council terminated Spencer Group’s contract in May 2025 and appointed Taziker to continue the work.

Officers have now confirmed that they cannot meet the deadline to reopen the bridge before Christmas, with May 2027 now being put forward as the latest possible date.

The truth is that we still do not have a reliable reopening date. They have literally no clue when it will be reopened. The dates given to you previously were just best guesses, and bad ones at that. The goalposts just keep getting moved. I have had enough.  

And so, after years of delays, missed deadlines and repeated assurances, I have lost confidence in those responsible for managing this project. I do not underestimate the significance of making such a statement as Council Leader, nor the seriousness of what it means. Below, I set out the action I am taking, with the full support of the Cabinet Member for Highways, Cllr Paul Batson. Action that should have been taken long before I became Leader.

Since becoming Leader, I have had to be mindful of what I can appropriately share publicly because of ongoing legal proceedings. I have received legal advice about the need for caution while these matters remain ongoing, and I have sought to respect that advice so as not to jeopardise the Council’s financial and legal position. 

I accepted that caution on the understanding that officers would use the time to get the Bridge reopened this year. That has not happened. Officers have advised me that, as they continue to review work completed previously, further damage is being discovered. I cannot independently verify every aspect of that explanation, and I am no longer prepared to offer residents assurances that I cannot confidently stand behind. I am at the end of the road (excuse the pun) and can no longer assure residents that this Council has the ability to deliver this project to completion.

My colleagues and I have repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of visible activity on site. We were assured that progress was being made and that “work was happening underneath out of sight”. Yet those assurances have not resulted in the bridge reopening.

I struggle to understand why further damage is still being discovered at this late stage, despite earlier surveys and problems. More should have been done from the outset to understand the bridge’s condition and the full scale of the work required. I am not blaming Taziker for the quality of their completed work. My concern is why these problems were not identified sooner.

In 2023, then-Councillor Steve Holland called for a review. Once again, backbench councillors - including myself at the time - were assured by Officers that reviews were under way and that the project was under control after a difficult start. Those assurances have not stood up to events. The assurances given to elected members are not reassuring.

I believe the previous Leader and senior officers should have intervened much earlier given the information available to them. Meaningful intervention did not come until May 2025.

There are now serious questions about when or if this Bridge will ever reopen. Cllr Paul Batson and I have lost confidence in the advice we are provided.

One relatively minor example perfectly illustrates why we have reached this position.

Last month, officers told me there was a reasonable chance of reopening the bridge by Christmas if no more damage was found and the necessary Environment Agency permit could be secured to allow additional scaffolding. I was encouraged by that prospect and expected the application to be pursued urgently.

I was assured that officers were chasing it. I checked in daily and was told they were pushing for a decision.

I then discovered that the level of urgency I expected was not being matched by the action taken. The application had become caught up in the Environment Agency’s backlog, and the necessary follow-up had not been carried out when it should have been.

Despite the assurances I had received, I ultimately had to intervene personally, including contacting the Environment Agency myself. Within 24 hours of my intervention, the permit was granted.

To be clear, securing that permit alone would not have guaranteed a Christmas reopening. I recognise that. But officers had identified it as a potentially important step towards achieving that outcome, and I expected it to be pursued with urgency and properly managed.

It was not.

I regard this as a serious failure in how the work was handled and representative of the lack of urgency afforded to getting this project finished. I now expect the Chief Executive to address it and ensure those responsible are held accountable.

For too long, council officers have not faced the level of scrutiny and accountability that would occur in the private sector. This is about more than one permit or one project. It is about changing a culture in which those responsible for delivery have not been held sufficiently accountable.

That culture must change, and your engagement as residents is vital in making it happen. We must demand better from the Council, and as your elected Leader, I intend to spearhead that change.

I am entering territory that no Leader has dared to enter before: properly holding officers to account and publicly demanding that the Chief Executive delivers better outcomes for the hard-earned money we pay in taxes.

I refuse to be a corporate mouthpiece, wheeled out to deliver carefully crafted, communications-approved statements. First and foremost, I am a taxpayer and someone who is sick and tired of endless delays. I am not here to make friends. I want my money spent wisely.

This week has been like every other, chasing for updates on how we are progressing. Then the bad news came. The bridge will not be open until May 2027. I responded in no uncertain terms: the bridge had to be open by Christmas.

I asked officers to explore every practical option, including surfacing the road and completing any outstanding works underneath while the bridge was open. The options presented were unsatisfactory and would have required further multi-million-pound expenditure as well as not being implemented until February at the earliest.

Interestingly though, my suggestion of a floating bridge could have provided a workable solution if explored a couple of years ago. However, officers now believe the actual bridge will be reopened before a floating bridge could be made operational. It makes you wonder why this option was not explored much earlier, when it became clear that the project was far more complicated than initially anticipated.

It is evident that this project has become a bottomless pit, swallowing taxpayers’ money with no clear end in sight. The overspend is eye watering and so I will not continue the approach taken by the previous Leader of simply signing off huge sums of public money on the back of assurances alone. From now on, there must be a credible plan overseen by an independent authority, with a firm commitment to delivery. The days of throwing more money at this project without demanding answers are over. I am considering my options to involve the Department for Transport to ensure that happens.

If we do not change course of action, then there is no guarantee this bridge will ever open.

I am considering options to ask the Secretary of State for Transport to examine the decisions made, contractor performance, the adequacy of surveys, the handling of the Environment Agency permit, project oversight and the responsibilities of officers and elected representatives, including those in the previous administration.

I get on very well with the Council Officers, and I have briefed them that this statement is going to be published. It is not personal.

But Leaders have to do uncomfortable things. 

As I said earlier, I am not here to make friends.

Requesting this level of intervention is an incredibly damaging and embarrassing situation for the Council. But when we took control of the Council in May, I promised a different style of leadership: no corporate waffle, just tell you it as it is.

My team and I remain determined to change the culture within North East Lincolnshire Council, where decision-making has, for too long, been overly officer-led. That, I will concede, is as much the responsibility of previous Council Leaders as it is the officers. If I was a Council Officer, I would have been quite happy with the status quo as it previously was.

With me as Leader, things are different. I demand better from those trusted to handle millions of pounds of taxpayers cash.  

Ultimately, elected representatives face the public at the ballot box. Council officers do not. Councillors are accountable to residents for the Council’s performance, and we take that responsibility seriously.

Council Officers are paid very handsomely. I expect them to have the same drive as I do, to get things done, on time and on budget. It can sometimes feel like they remain in gear one whilst I am in sixth gear. This is a cultural thing. My team and I will change that. Already I sense from Officers across various departments that they are performing with a renewed sense of optimism and passion, but on this particular project, it is too little, too late.

Talking of pay - for transparency - my Leader’s allowance is £22,500 per year. I am not doing this to get rich. I am doing it because I care about this area and believe I can help.

As stated above, May 2027 is the latest date being put forward, but after everything that has happened, I cannot give you confidence that even that date will be met.

I have given officers opportunities to put this right. I have listened to their assurances and respected the advice I was given. Those responsible no longer have my confidence.

The independent audit I committed to will be taking place and I will ensure it examines the full financial implications of this project and establishes exactly who made the key decisions, when they were made, why they were taken, and whether they were properly scrutinised. I want the full truth brought into the open, and I will not shy away from whatever that reveals.

I am comfortable that my team and I are doing the right thing, even if that means challenging the very organisation we lead. I am not here to protect reputations or sweep failures under the carpet. This project will go down as one of the darkest stains on this Council’s history, and we are determined to do everything in our power to ensure the truth is established and those responsible are held to account.

We need a credible delivery plan and a fundamental change in the way this project is managed. That is why I am looking at taking the unprecedented step of inviting Secretary of State input. I refuse to go through the motions and idly sit by watching delay after delay. 

I’d asked officers to plan a Christmas market to celebrate the bridge reopening, something positive for residents after all this disruption. I’m genuinely gutted that we won’t be able to make that happen.

Keep the faith, we will keep pushing. 

Maybe a Bridge Festival in the Summer?