Council announes Tadcaster bridge will not be open this month

When the bridge first fell in December 2015, North Yorkshire County Council aimed to have work completed within 12 months to re-unite the divided town.

But as different complications have arisen, such as poor weather conditions and high river levels the completion date has been delayed several times.

Earlier this week, NYCC Executive Member for Highways, Councillor Don Mackenzie said: "Definitely the bridge will be open by the end of the month and at the moment it is looking like Monday or Tuesday next week.

"We are making very good progress, our contractors are working quite literally through the very cold nights. The bridge will look in a much more finished state next week when the black tarmac road surfacing is put down.”

But after assessments and discussions between the contractor and the county council this morning it has been announced that the opening is 'likely' to be pushed to the back of next week.

The authority said it was due to very difficult working conditions over a number of days with freezing temperatures.

In an effort to keep work progressing during these freezing temperatures contractors erected heated tents over the masonry parapet wall on the upstream side of the bridge.

But even tents have been unable to maintain temperatures at a level that would permit masonry work to continue.

The County Council said it will review progress on the bridge again on Monday (January 30), but the masonry work yet to be completed on the upstream parapet wall is such that opening the bridge to traffic will not be possible until the back end of next week.