Riversdale Bridge granted planning permission

Planning permission has been granted for the new Riversdale Bridge in Northwich with unanimous approval from Cheshire West and Chester Council's Planning Board.

The bridge will re-establish walking routes to and from schools in the area. It is estimated that a thousand people will cross the bridge each day.

The funding has come from Cheshire West and Chester Council and the Big Lottery's Living Landmarks fund. The new bridge forms a key component of the Sustrans Connect2 project.

The total cost of the project is £1.4 million and includes footpaths and cycleway improvement links into Northwich town centre and key vision sites, Hartford and Leftwich areas.

The project is being co-ordinated by the Council's Special Projects Team and work on the footpaths will begin in January and the bridge and the footpath and cycle ways will be complete by late summer.

Prosperity Executive Member Herbert Manley attended the meeting and said afterwards: "This is now where our dream of a new bridge with connected walking and cycling routes becomes a reality.

"Local people were involved in the consultation process and the new low level swing bridge will be located in the same position as the existing bridge.

"It is an exciting prospect that the new bridge will open and paths for walks and cyclists will be used by local people by the end of next summer."

Peter Foster, North West Regional Director for Sustrans said: "Northwich, with the problems of a lack of a river crossing and poor access alongside the riverside and to the town centre, was the model for the national Connect2 project.

"We are very pleased to hear of the unanimous support at the planning stage for the main feature of the scheme, a new Riversdale Bridge. We look forward to construction starting next year."

The bridge will have a traditional black and white colour scheme and will be a cable stayed structure with two steel towers off which run a number of cables in an A –frame design, much like the original structure. Work will begin on the new bridge early 2010.

Added local Northwich West Councillor Helen Weltman: "I am absolutely delighted that planning permission has been granted. I look forward to the first stage of the plan - demolition of the old bridge - taking place in the next couple of months."