Survey Reveals St Mary's Street is in Danger of Collapse – 8 Weeks of Works Ahead
As you may have seen or heard through local media, a survey has revealed that St Mary's street in the centre of Bedford is in danger of collapse. Astonishingly, the road was only resurfaced fewer than ten years ago by the former County Council. Sadly, however, as has been the case in areas across the Council, we are clearing up the former County Council's mess, after they didn't tackle drainage problems and simply put tarmac over the existing road surface. As the local business owners along the street, which runs off the Town Bridge to the south (from the Park Inn hotel), have made clear to me, the build up of surface water on the road causes them real problems. So, we've been aware of the lack of drainage, but it is only now a full survey has been done that the extent of the damage to the road caused by this has been revealed. It has shown that the road is in danger of 'failure' (i.e. collapse) at some point, and therefore urgent works must be undertaken. And this time we'll do a thorough job which lasts.
