Extent of defects on Bassaleg Bridge in Newport revealed

Safety inspectors closed the bridge to pedestrians and vehicles in August 2021 after determining the structure was unsafe and could collapse under its own weight.

This summer, nearly two years on, the Argus reported Newport City Council had paid consultants around £200,000 for the repair project and spent hundreds of thousands on traffic management.

Pedestrians were allowed to cross the bridge again from January 2022.

Residents of Forge Mews have long complained about the inconvenience which has also required emergency services to unlock a barrier with an electronic code.

Tom Roberts, 35, of Rhymney Way, has seen the repair project on a daily basis for the past two years with a keen eye for signs of progress.

"I have to drive down the road adjacent to the river every day. I will ask the council when these reports were carried out, the costs of each report, and the quotation for the stage two work to be carried out.

"I'm particularly interested in the information suggesting the bridge is beyond economical repair."

‘NCC acknowledges the delay’

Newport City Council formally logged a Freedom of Information request from Mr Roberts, asking for details of the work, on August 7, and failed to provide any kind of response within the statutory limit of 20 working days.

The council provided no explanation or justification until Mr Roberts raised the issue on September 11. At this point, the council confirmed it held the relevant information and put the delay down to “staffing resources”.

The council did not fulfil the FOI request for another 13 working days, taking the process to Thursday, September 28.

The long-awaited response notes the regular visual inspections and structural assessments that have taken place, the latter to determine the bridge’s loading capacity.

Offering a “brief description” of the work thus far, they listed: inspection of the structure; identifying defects; repair of initial major bridge failure by underpinning the existing west Pier; closure of the bridge due to poor inspection results; continuous electronic monitoring (24/7) in order to keep the bridge open as a footbridge; regular visual inspections; continued assessment of the structure to establish loading capacity using a variety of techniques.

The final intrusive investigations were carried out in April this year, finding cracks in main beams, severed reinforcement structures, large areas of loose and “ready to spall off” concrete and extensive water management issues.

A council spokesperson told the Argus: “While we endeavour to respond to all requests within the required 20 working days, there are occasions when some information takes longer to collate due to the complexity of the FOI.

“Our statistics show that over 90 per cent of FOI requests do get a response within 20 working days. Last year, the council received almost 1000 FOI requests, 91 per cent of which were responded to within the deadline.

“This particular request required the collation of information from a number of sources, which has now been completed. We are in correspondence with the requester so would not comment further at the time.”