TfW apologises for delays over damaged bridges

Residents of a Welsh community have welcomed news that a footbridge that has been out of action for nearly four years is to be repaired soon.

Plaid Cymru Senedd Members, Peredur Owen Griffiths and Delyth Jewell said the confirmation from Transport for Wales (TfW) that work would be starting soon on the Ty’n-y Graig bridge is a big boost for the people of Llanbradach.

The pair however expressed their disappointment that repairs on another closed footbridge in the village – the historic train station bridge – would not start until the 2025/26 financial year.

Letter

The information was contained in a reply to a letter Peredur and Delyth sent to TfW at the beginning of February. In his reply,  TfW Chief Executive Officer James Price apologised for the extensive delays.

He wrote: ‘Thank you for your email and for taking your time to write to me, and I would like to apologise for the time it has taken to resolve.

‘As you may be aware, the programme to provide a replacement has proved far more complicated than initially envisaged, involving land acquisition, modifying plans to consider current safety standards, and a review of engineering techniques.

‘However, this has gone on far too long and I have asked the teams involved to expedite this and have assigned them to work on this project directly and not via our infrastructure partners.’

He added: ‘I have asked the team to compile an indicative programme for the replacement structure urgently and for them to share this with me by the end of February.

‘I will share the full programme with you once I receive it with my aim being that the bridge replacement is delivered in 2024.

‘We know that this has been a long time coming, and on behalf of Transport for Wales I would like to once again apologise that the programme to replace Ty’n-y-Graig bridge has taken far longer than anyone anticipated.’

“Inconvenience”

With regard to the station footbridge, Mr Price said restoration drawings for the bridge were currently under review but that work is not planned until the 2025/2026 financial year to ‘ensure resource and funding is focused on Ty’n-Y-Graig…’

In response, Peredur and Delyth said: “We are pleased that we have received an undertaken that work will aim to be completed in 2024 on the Ty’n-Y-Graig bridge.

“We have heard all this before of course so, along with our Plaid Cymru colleagues and Llanbradach councillors Colin Mann and Gary Enright, we will be keeping a close eye on matters in the coming weeks and months.

“It is ridiculous that it has taken this long to repair two damaged bridges which have caused a lot of inconvenience to the people of Llanbradach.

“There will also be disappointment that the station bridge is not scheduled for restoration until 2025/26 as the temporary bridge is a poor substitute for the real thing.

“We would like to see this brought forward as the people of Llanbradach have suffered long enough.”