I SEE that it is going to be another four months at least before Ovingham Bridge re-opens.

Northumberland County Council says it is due to unforeseen problems and, whereas I would not doubt this statement, I think that if it had worked harder at the beginning this may have been avoided.

I had occasion to cross the footbridge adjacent to the bridge several times a week during the first six months of its closure, usually between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, giving me the opportunity to observe the work – or more correctly, lack of it – being carried on.

If I saw three workmen actually on the bridge it was unusual; many times it was deserted and any work done appeared to be painfully slow. On one notable occasion when they were lifting the first section of the old roadway off the bridge, two men were working, attaching chains from the crane to lift it and I actually counted ten white collar workers watching.

This has been a great inconvenience to people living both sides of the river and very costly in terms of time and fuel in getting to the other side, having personally to drive around by Crawcrook to get to Prudhoe.

I do not doubt the work is necessary and needed doing, but feel it could have been done more efficiently, so causing less disruption..

ROBERT BUCK

Ovingham