Decision on future of historic County Derry bridge is 'borderline'

The restoration of a historic County Derry railway footbridge is hanging in the balance, an official has told a Council committee.

A footbridge at Castlerock railway station which is subject to a 10,000-year lease signed by the legacy Coleraine Borough Council was removed in 2017 for assessment.

Five years on, the bridge has still not been restored, with a number of consultations and assessments undertaken in the meantime.

In January 2022, Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council committed around £15,000 to match Translink funding for further assessment, having dispensed with the previous consultant's services.

While the item was not on the agenda at Tuesday's Environmental Services Committee, Cllr Adrian McQuillan, who has been vocal on the issue throughout, took an opportunity to bring it up.

The Committee were discussing the fate of footbridges in a park in Ballymoney, County Antrim, when Cllr McQuillan requested an update on the Castlerock bridge.

A Council official said Translink had suggested a list of 'significant repairs' to be carried out on the bridge before their assessment, but that further repairs may also be required.

“Translink were not happy with our report, so they took it upon themselves to get their consultant to do an assessment of the bridge,” they said.

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Earlier this month, a council official had said testing had shown 'failures'.

“The consultant looked at it and gave us what they felt was a list of fairly significant repairs that would be needed to allow the bridge to go back.

“They went away on the basis that those repairs would be done and did an assessment to check if it would carry the load.

“The official report is due out on November 25 but I have spoken to them and it is borderline.”

Cllr McQuillan asked why the requested repairs had not been carried out, to which the official responded that the bridge may still fail even with those repairs carried out.

“Potentially they could come back to us at the end of November with the report and say not only do you need the previous repairs, but significant other repairs,” they said.

“It could be money thrown away if we went ahead and did those repairs and they came back and said the bridge still fails.

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A local councillor said the behaviour was 'nothing short of a disgrace'.

“There is no point in us doing work until we get that direction from them. At the minute they are working on a bare minimum. That may not be adequate.

“We'll bring that report back to Council at the earliest possible time – probably January – with the options available to Council for how we move forward.”

Cllr McQuillan suggested it would have been better to carry out the repairs anyway, but said he would wait for the report.

“It's as clear as mud, but if we're going to get a report on it in January I'm happy to wait until then. Maybe they should come and take us through the report,” he said,

Committee Chair Cllr John McAuley then drew the item to a close, quipping: “I hope them boys aren't MOT-ing my car all the same.”