Alan Lowe and Ellen Cargill of Castle ward and Halton Lea, Runcorn, declare bridge project uncertainty

Apr 23 2009 by Oliver Clay, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

TWO Runcorn councillors have admitted they are not confident that the £431m Mersey Gateway (MG) project will go ahead.

Cllrs Alan Lowe, Halton Lea ward, and Ellen Cargill, Castle ward, said at a public meeting that the project’s fate depends on the public inquiry outcome, which they are unable to predict.

Cllr Lowe said: “I’m not confident one way or another because somebody else is going to make the decision.

“The general feeling among councillors is that it is going to go ahead but there are all sorts of details to deal with.”

Cllr Cargill added: “No one is certain about the bridge. There’s an inquiry taking place from May and this could take 40 sittings to decide whether it’s approved.”

Steve Nicholson, MG project director, said: “We’re confident the case we have got together is extremely robust.

“It’s for the inspector to decide what to put to the Secretary of State. And we’ve acknowledged in our plans there will be a public inquiry for the last few years.

“We wouldn’t have got this far if we weren’t sure that we had a compelling case.”