Wealden council agrees to set aside funding for a bridge project

Earlier this month, Wealden District Council cabinet members agreed to allocate and use up to £558,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds to pay for part of the construction costs of a new bridge over the River Ouse near Lewes.

If built, the new bridge would be expected to form part of the Lewes to Uckfield Greenway — a project, which aims to deliver a traffic-free walking and cycling route between the two towns

This decision was discussed by the council’s overview and scrutiny committee on Monday (September 21), following a call-in request from several opposition councillors.

Cllr Ann Newton, leader of the council’s Conservative group, was among those to put her name to the call-request. She said: “[This] is a substantial commitment of public money and with a decision of that scale comes a corresponding obligation to demonstrate that the evidence, the process and the safeguards supporting it are robust.

“We called this decision in because we believe it warrants much closer examination than it received at cabinet.”

Cllr Newton added: “There are a number of matters which, in our view, require clear answers before members can be satisfied that this decision was properly founded.”

The committee’s chairman Andrew Wilson (Con), who also signed the call-in request, set out some of the concerns around the cabinet decision, including uncertainty around how the £558,000 figure had been reached.

Cabinet papers said this figure was to be Wealden District Council’s one-third share of the overall budget for the project. The same amounts would also be provided by the South Downs National Park Authority and Lewes District Council.

But Cllr Wilson said no figures or cost estimates had been included in the feasibility study considered by cabinet.

Chris Bending, the council’s director of place, said the council had taken its lead from Lewes District Council, which had already allocated its share of the funding when cabinet members took their decision.

Opposition councillors also raised concerns around the necessity of the bridge to achieve the greenway route and whether alternative routes had been adequately considered.

They argued that cabinet members should have had this information when they made their decision.

Other committee members took issue with these arguments.

Labour councillor Ben Cox said: “Where is the issue? We are not saying today we are going to buy a bridge. We are saying today that we are going to earmark some money so that a project, if it comes to fruition, could be supported by us.

“This debate today just seems like it is really premature … it just seems like we are debating something we are nowhere near yet.

“I think the risk of loss of money isn’t there at the moment, because we are just … literally stating that we are going to reserve money in case the project can go ahead.”

Cllr Wilson proposed a motion, which would have seen the decision put back to cabinet for fresh consideration. This would have asked to consider the concerns raised.

But this motion was voted down by the majority of the committee. An alternative motion, to take no further action, was agreed.