Barnsley’s Market Gate bridge project 'has become a joke' after costs spiral says opposition councillor

Danielle Andrews
By Danielle Andrews
Published 19th Jan 2022, 11:35 BST
Updated 19th Jan 2022, 13:01 BST
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The leader of Barnsley’s Liberal Democrat group says the council’s Market Gate Bridge project has ‘become a joke’ after costs have almost doubled.

BMBC yesterday announced that work would begin on the long-delayed bridge next month, and say the cost has now reached £9.7m – almost double the initial £5m budget.

The council say the extra cost for the project includes ‘professional fees and sewer diversion work’, as well as ‘further public realm and highway improvements at both ends of the bridge’.

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The leader of the council’s main opposition group says the cost is going to be ‘a real kick in the teeth for the residents of Barnsley’.

The leader of the council's main opposition group says the cost is going to be "a real kick in the teeth for the residents of Barnsley".The leader of the council's main opposition group says the cost is going to be "a real kick in the teeth for the residents of Barnsley".
The leader of the council's main opposition group says the cost is going to be "a real kick in the teeth for the residents of Barnsley".
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Councillor Hannah Kitching, leader of Barnsleys Lib Dem group and councillor for Penistone West told the local democracy reporting service: “I think the whole Market Gate Bridge project has become a joke, to be honest.

“The council has been hell bent on pursuing what looks to me like a vanity project.”

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Coun Kitching added that the news that the bridge will open in Summer 2023 is an ‘unacceptable amount of time’, and added that he cost is a ‘real kick in the teeth’ for Barnsley residents amid a backdrop of rising living costs.