Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether National Highways have made an assessment of the infilling work at Ridge Road Bridge near Shepton Mallet (reference ESB/10m4ch).

National Highways (NH) last intrusive investigation of the infilling work undertaken at the Ridge Road Bridge was the trial hole work adjacent to the South span in May 2023 and the coring of the North and Centre spans in December 2023.

Since this work NH have been engaging with an Active Travel Group about investigating the re-opening of the south span of the bridge.

NH is currently still working through options, safety justifications, and ecological impact. Given the uncertainty over what the next phase of work is, it is not possible to place a timeline on it.