Relief for residents and businesses in Elvington as Sutton Bridge is reopened (From York Press)

Relief for residents and businesses in Elvington as Sutton Bridge is reopened

8:05am Tuesday 9th February 2010

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RELIEVED shop owners and residents in Elvington have welcomed the reopening of Sutton Bridge, which has been closed since early in January.

Businesses in the area of the bridge had complained of a huge slump in trade after the closure which they said effectively cut them off from customers.

Originally, East Riding Council said the damaged bridge would be likely to remain closed to vehicles until Easter. However, it has now been reopened temporarily to light vehicles.

A temporary vehicle barrier and speed humps are in place to allow pedestrians to continue to use the bridge at the same time as light traffic. The speed on the bridge will be restricted to 10mph. A width restriction of two metres will also be in operation.

Tom Fitzpatrick, owner of Elvington Village Stores, said: “It’s much better than it was. It’s down to two metres so it’s a bit narrow for some of the bread wagons to get through and for bigger lorries delivering to the pub but otherwise it’s fine. It’s going to take a people a while to get used to the fact that it’s open again. My business has been down by more than half.

“If it had gone on much longer I would have been closed.”

Simon Hopwood, owner of the St Vincent Arms pub, where trade had also been badly affected, also welcomed the good news.

“We are absolutely made up that it’s open again,” he said.

“We just have to keep the big lorries off it now.”

Since the bridge was closed after being badly damaged by a lorry in January, journeys which had once taken minutes by car were taking half an hour as motorists took lengthy detours.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: “Further work is planned to fully restore the bridge and the council is mindful of the disruption that work of this nature will cause.

“It is hoped local knowledge will help to keep this disruption to a minimum.”

Following a meeting on Friday, the council asked for views from residents and traders as to when they would prefer the repair work to be completed.

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