What’s new: Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet has backed a bid for £40.358m of Government funding towards a replacement for Chetwynd Bridge.
By the numbers: The project is estimated to cost £46.358m, with the county council proposing a £6m contribution. Vehicles over 7.5 tonnes currently face a diversion of around 20 miles.
What’s next: If Government funding is secured, construction is expected to begin in April 2027, with completion currently forecast for around December 2029.
This article is based on reporting from the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a BBC funded initiative set up to strengthen reporting on local democratic issues. The Staffordshire Signal has taken part in the scheme since September 2026, which means we're able to draw on a selection of LDRS stories alongside our own.
Senior county councillors have backed a bid for more than £40m from the Government to replace a 202-year-old Staffordshire bridge – and agreed for the authority to contribute £6m to the project.
The Grade II* Listed Chetwynd Bridge near Alrewas is the largest surviving pre-1830 cast iron bridge in England and second largest in the world – but it has been showing its age in recent years.
A weight restriction has been put in place on Chetwynd Bridge to protect public safety. But the limit means that vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes face a 20-mile diversion between Elford and Alrewas.
In August Staffordshire County Council granted planning permission for a new bypass bridge to be created to carry the A513 over the River Tame, The existing Chetwynd Bridge is set to be retained and converted into a pedestrian and cycle route.
But the authority needs to secure funding for the new structure before work can begin. On Wednesday (October 21), members of the county council’s cabinet backed a grant funding application to the Government, and a contribution of £6m from the authority’s Integrated Transport Fund if the bid proves successful.
Councillor Peter Mason, Cabinet Member for Strategic Highways, said at Wednesday’s meeting: “It’s a very old bridge – the biggest cast iron bridge of its type in the country – and it’s a significant gateway into Staffordshire. For a number of years there has been a restriction on it.
“Earlier this year we submitted a bid to the Department for Transport, in relation to securing funding from the Government’s Structures Fund, for the building of a new bridge adjacent to the existing Chetwynd Bridge. That submission was for £46.358m, which is the estimated cost of building a new bridge and other associated costs.
“As part of the Structures Fund requirements, ourselves as the council need to make a local grant contribution. We have offered to make a contribution of £6m as part of our bid, meaning we have sought £40.358m of central funding.
“That will see the new bridge constructed on a timeline currently forecast to be completed around December 2029, and that would allow us to restore proper traffic flows through that area of the county. At the moment the restrictions are causing significant disruption, particularly for vehicles over 7.5 tonnes, who are faced with something like a 20-mile diversion and that’s having an impact on the local economy and on our businesses.
“We are seeing a high level of incursions as well as a result of that – around 5,000 over the last five years of vehicles trying to break that restriction. The reality is, if we don’t support the building of this bridge, the time is coming when we will have to close the existing bridge fully to all vehicle traffic because it will become unsustainable in the long term.”
If the council secures Government funding, construction work is expected to begin in April 2027. If the bid is unsuccessful, the council plans to continue developing the scheme using existing grants so it is ready for another funding opportunity, the authority has said.
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The council also needs to acquire land, easements, access rights and licences
required for the bridge replacement scheme. Cabinet members agreed to the acquisitions at Wednesday’s meeting
Councillor Mason told the cabinet: “It’s a significant project, it’s one that is really needed in this county, and the £6m allows us to ensure that if we do secure the £40m+ from the Structures Fund we can proceed with the building of the bridge straight away. It is pretty much a shovel-ready scheme.
“The only risk against that £6m is that the Structures Fund central grant award is a fixed sum, so any additional cost overruns, which we have not identified at this point in time, will be at the risk of this council to cover by proceeding with this infrastructure project.
“This bridge will be open to all traffic. It will restore that link for that area of the county and into Derbyshire for those businesses and farms that are suffering quite badly at the moment with the disruption of the current weight restrictions.”
A Westminster Hall debate on the bridge saw the project praised by Government. The council was commended for the way it has managed the asset.
Deputy council leader Hayley Coles said: “It’s on the edge of Tamworth and it’s the gateway to the Arboretum, so it’s really important. It wasn’t dealt with for years, which is why it has got into such a bad state, so well done on acting on that.”
Written by Kerry Ashdown, Local Democracy Reporter.
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