Your letters: How much longer must we wait?

Sir, — I read with interest your lead article detailing the proposed repairs to Henley’s iconic bridge ( Standard , July 5).

Your readers might be interested to see this photo of the underside of the fifth arch, the one closest to Henley.

As you can see, there are two very substantial cracks. One of them runs from just above the waterline throughout the underside of the arch extending nearly two-thirds of the way over towards the opposite support.

Both cracks have been filled with resin at some stage, although we have been unable to ascertain from Oxfordshire County Council’s highways department when this was done.

It is not known whether the cracks were caused by vibration/loading, created by the traffic using the bridge or by the footings on the riverbed being compromised.

However, the very existence of such large cracks in the underside of our much-loved iconic Grade I listed bridge is surely a cause for concern.

We have been told by the county council that the last structural analysis of the bridge’s load capacity was carried out by one of its own officers (rather than an independent professional) in August 2012.

Since then, periodic visual assessments have taken place but not a more up-to-date reassessment of its structural capacity.

We are particularly concerned about this, bearing in mind the change in the nature and volume of traffic.

In particular, the increase in the number of heavy goods vehicles that have no local business in the area but which use the bridge just to cross the river and save time doing the “long side of the triangle” across the county on the A4130 rather than staying on the strategic road network, the M4 and A34.

To be fair, the council says that it is carrying out monitoring and ANPR studies to determine where the traffic coming through Henley comes from and goes to.

But how long will we have to wait for a solution to be found when for so many years the can has been kicked down the road repeatedly?

Until there is a legal restriction prohibiting heavy freight using Henley as a traffic corridor, sat-navs and route planning software used by the haulage industry will continue to send these vehicles through our town.

If you feel strongly about this issue please implore our new MP to do something about this and take this matter seriously.

Furthermore, please send any photos of examples of heavy through freight to our dedicated email address henleyhgvwatch@gmail.com

We send this evidence regularly to the council as proof of the ongoing problem that needs to be addressed. Thank you. — — Yours faithfully,

Amanda Chumas

Henley HGV watch