MAJOR repairs for Winnington Swing Bridge that were due to take place this weekend have been postponed.

The Canal and River Trust, which owns the bridge and the River Weaver Navigation underneath it, has confirmed that the £930,000 project has been delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

An expert engineering team from the trust will closely monitor the state of the bridge, which carries traffic on the A533 between Northwich and Barnton, until the project can be rescheduled.

The trust is working alongside Cheshire West and Chester Council on the repairs, and both parties agreed that it was important to keep the A533 open this weekend for key workers and to protect workers involved on the project.

A spokesman for the Canal and River Trust said that the work is being postponed 'for several months' and could be rescheduled 'probably for the end of the summer'.

The bridge is a notorious traffic hotspot in Northwich, and campaigners have long called for a new crossing from Barnton to Northwich.

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CWAC, which received £780,000 from the Department for Transport towards the work, hailed the project as a 'much-needed boost' for infrastructure in the area when the funding was confirmed last month.