National Highways to remove tons of concrete from Cumbria bridge after planning permission refused

National Highways will have to remove hundreds of tonnes of concrete from a Victorian bridge in Cumbria after retrospective planning permission was turned down this afternoon.

The company was asking for retrospective permission after they used concrete and gravel to fill in an arch in order to strengthen it.

The action was criticised in the House of Lords as "cultural vandalism".

The agency said the decision to fill in the bottom of the Great Musgrave Bridge near Warcop was taken due to safety reasons, but many campaigners claimed it just needed small repairs - and would have been far cheaper to repoint.

National Highways will now have to go in and get rid of all the concrete and gravel they had put under the bridge.

National Highways’ Head of the Historical Railways Estate programme, Hélène Rossiter, said:

“We respect Eden District Council’s decision regarding our planning application to retain the works at Great Musgrave, and will not be appealing.

“We have listened to the feedback on this issue and earlier this year amended our processes to ensure full planning permission is sought before carrying out work like this in the future.

“Our new process of managing the estate, which has full stakeholder engagement, means we will review each structure against a range of criteria, not only for repurposing but also for heritage or ecological value.

“We will also no longer consider the infilling of any structures as part of our future plans, unless there is absolutely no alternative.”