NO adaptations or replacement for a railway bridge leading to a popular beauty spot are likely in the current financial year, a meeting has been told.
The high bridge over a railway line and leading to Cwmbran Boating Lake is inaccessible to those in wheelchairs due to its long, ramped steps.
Though a councillor responsible for equalities had promised adaptation or replacement would be discussed in any talks on capital, or one off, spending projects it has now been clarified that would be unlikely in the current financial year.
Councillor Peter Jones said future options for the bridge would be considered when the bridge is considered close to the end of its design life.
At the council’s June meeting the Labour cabinet member said: “If the bridge is identified as being close to the end of its design life then this will trigger an options appraisal for future accessibility of the boating lake.”
He had been questioned on the bridge at a third council meeting by Reform UK councillor David Thomas, who’d already been told in March the council would have to consider if a major effort to either upgrade or replace the bridge would be proportionate as there are other routes to the lake, with improved disabled parking and suitable paths.
It was also stated the council would have to consider if allocating resources to the bridge would “deliver the greatest benefit for disabled residents compared with other borough-wide improvements”.
When Cllr Thomas, who represents Cwmbran’s Llantarnam ward, again raised the issue in May Cllr Jones did promise to raise the issue of the accessibility of the bridge in any future discussions on the council’s capital spending for large, one-off, costs. He also said it would monitor the bridge’s structural position and seek a “fully accessible solution in the longer term”.
At the council’s June meeting Cllr Thomas asked what evidence officers were waiting for and suggested the council had no intention of upgrading or replacing the bridge, which he described as “restoring” equal access to the boating lake.
Cllr Thomas said: “Isn’t ‘monitoring’ simply another way of avoiding a decision on whether this administration intends to restore equal access to the boating lake or not?”
Cllr Jones, who represents Cwmbran’s Two Locks, said the council monitors any complaints around access “and secondly we regularly review the structural integrity of the bridge which will ultimately inform whether the bridge remains open for use.”
But Cllr Thomas said there was no “missing information” and said without naming a “specific event” before taking action “isn’t the truth that monitoring is just a simply more convenient way of avoiding saying publicly that this administration has no intention, whatsoever, of restoring equal access to the boating lake?”
But Cllr Jones, who reminded Cllr Thomas the legal situation had been set out in March, said the access remained under review.
He said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future but what I will say is I don’t think that in this current financial year anything will happen with regard to this bridge. But I don’t have a crystal ball.
“I’ve said to you if I get involved in any discussions regarding capital expenditure I will raise this issue with officers but that does not guarantee that things will change and that is my position on this matter, and the council’s position.”