Norman Hudson, Your Ref: P502.2 19 March 2002 Dear Mr Hudson, Re: Iron Bridge in Brabyns Park Thank you for your letter of 1st February on behalf of Councillor Shaw and also your kind comments regarding the Marple Website. I must apologise for not responding to you sooner but unfortunately we experienced difficulties with the web site during February and were forced to change hosts. This was rather a distraction and occupied all of my spare time until the move was completed. Thankfully this is at last behind us and I can now address your response to our enquiries of Councillor Shaw and Mr. Lucas. You letter was not very informative, particularly regarding time-scales for the actions you say your staff are currently undertaking. We are keen to understand the detail of these processes better and how long they are expected to take. We are concerned that the condition of the bridge will continue to decline whilst they are ongoing, to the extent that the work required to restore it may substantially increase. This of course depends on how long passes before restoration is able to commence. Could you please therefore give a clear indication of when you expect the project plan to be completed and when your officer responsible is likely to contact us to discuss the details, as you have suggested in your letter. Could you also identify the likely completion of the subsequent phase, during which assessment against requirements for other similar projects will be undertaken and when the service programme will be prepared. Lastly, could you please provide us with more information about the project plan and the service programme? Are these documents available for public scrutiny and if so, how can we obtain copies to review? Does a project being placed on a service programme guarantee execution to an agreed time-scale? We feel your letter indicates a positive desire on SMBC's part to move ahead on this matter and we look forward to understanding exactly how and when this can be turned into physical progress on restoration of the bridge. Yours faithfully, Mark Whittaker, cc *Please note that a record of correspondence relating to this issue is available on-line at http://www.marple-uk.com/ironbridge.htm |
