RESIDENTS in Whitegate are demanding urgent action to prevent HGVs from further damaging a bridge and risking village safety.

The residents ofthe nearby Meadow Home Park are urging the Canal and River Trust (C&RT) and Cheshire West and Chester Council work together to bring about a solution, which would include promised repairs to the Bradford Road bridge, which has a three tonne limit for vehicles crossing it.

The residents consider the bridge to be in an “unsafe condition” after it sustained extensive damage after one HGV collided with it in November 2013.

Since then it has been left in a poor state of repair and according to Meadow Home Park owner Samantha Leigh-Jones, has suffered from frequent hits by HGV’s, who are illegally using it to avoid traffic congestion or following a sat nav.

“On a regular basis HGV's get stuck or having to reverse all the way back up Mill Lane to Whitegate village.”

According to Ms Leigh-Jones the highways department at Cheshire West and Chester Council refuse to believe that there is a problem with the frequent illegal use of the bridge by HGV’s and as a result have failed to prioritise repairs to it.

She explains: “To get a complete picture, I have installed CCTV so that we can gather sufficient evidence on its use by these large vehicles to send both to police and to Cheshire West.

“There seems to be a lot of foreign drivers and some of them get completely stuck, which often results in impact to the already damaged bridge.

“There is definitely a need for extra signs to make them aware of the three tonne limit.”

Ms Leigh-Jones added: “I've continued to enquire since March 2016 as to when any of these works will be done and been repeatedly fobbed off.”

Cllr Mike Baynham, said he has been helping the parish council deal with the issue of oversized trucks using the bridge as a short cut to Winsford.

"Working with Samantha and local residents, I have tried many routes and avenues toencourage the C&RT to give a startdate for the work on the bridge, clearly this issue has gone on long enough andplaces the safety of Whitegate and Winsford residents at risk"

Cllr Baynham has requested that Cheshire West and Chester Council’s chief executive Gerald Meehan discusses options with the trust to action the bridge repairs as a matter of urgency.

He explained: “Cheshire West and Chester has responded by saying that it planned to put the work on its list for 2018.”

Cllr Baynham added: "We do not want this work to be delayed again and ​are calling for action now, before someone gets seriously hurt."

A trust spokesman said: “Working with thecouncil we’ve put up weight limit signs but motorists continue to ignore them.  We are looking at a programme to carry out repairs to the bridge which is likely to take place in 2018 subject to funding.”

The trust which has responsibility for 2,000 miles of canals and rivers in England and Wales is calling, once again, for motorists to slow down when crossing over its historic bridges.

Dave Clarkson, regional engineer for the trust, said: “Each time a bridge is hit a small bit of history is lost and it is heart-breaking for us to spend so much time and money caring for these amazing structures just to see them so carelessly damaged.

“Over the last year we’ve had to spendover £1 million across the country repairing bridges hit by drivers and that’s money which, as a charity, we could better spend maintaining and looking after the region’s canals.

“If motorists just slowed down a bit and took more care and attention then they would save themselves and us a lot of cost and aggravation, and protect the nation’s important canal heritage.”