Decision details

On 11/11/2024 Capital Board approved the reallocation of £140,000 funds within the Bridge Maintenance Capital Programme to address funding to repair the collapsed Burnley Road (Laund) retaining Wall.

In November 2022 the "Burnley Road Laund" Highway retaining wall supporting the A682 between Rawtenstall and Burnley collapsed into the adjacent river.

The A682 is part of the resilient route network and classified as a 3a priority main distributor road.

In early 2023 a project was established to enable temporary measures to be installed to prevent further collapse, protect public safety, safeguard essential utilities, and allow the road to remain open.

In July 2024 funding was allocated for the permanent repairs from residual funds within the retaining wall programme and unallocated funding within the Bridges Maintenance programme.

At that time, it was considered that the funding allocated would be sufficient to enable completion of the works however this is no longer the case. Forecast costs have increased due to the need for additional temporary works protection to high pressure water supplies to the Rawtenstall area. This has had an effect on the programme, meaning that works in the river will take longer with increased cost for dealing with higher volume of water running into the Winter period.

Works are currently ongoing with one lane of traffic under signal control. The site is barriered off with, no footway provision due to limited working area and there is still an open excavation to the river. It is in a safe condition but until the works are complete, it is vulnerable to further damage if water levels increase. The status of the route, the risk of disruption to infrastructure and the vulnerability of the site mean that this is the highest priority site currently in the bridges programme.

The anticipated cost of the proposed works has increased beyond those originally envisaged due to the proximity of major utilities and difficult ground conditions.

The current available budget is £173,059.02. The estimated total project cost going forward for delivering the work is approximately £310,000 and additional funding is required to allow the works to complete.

Ridwan Musa, Head of Highways Operations and Design, on behalf of the Matt Towsend, Director of Highways and Transport took a decision to reallocate £140,000 of funds within the Bridge Maintenance Capital programme to address the repair of Burnley Road (Laund) retaining Wall.