‘DISASTER AREA’ TO BE DECLARED, FOOTBRIDGE TO BE ERECTED
BUFF BAY, Portland; February 12, 2025
Three ministers of Government and several officials of agencies were at a little-known community in Portland on Wednesday, February 12 – Craig Mill. They were there deciding what to do and how fast to do it to enable people from communities nearby to get from one side of a river to the other, following a collapse of their bridge in December.
Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie; Minister responsible for Works, Robert Nesta Morgan, and Minister of Transport, and MP for the area Daryl Vaz went along, on Wednesday with a team including media, to the Craig Mill bridge.
(MP for West Portland, left, and Minister of Transport Daryl Vaz, explains to colleague ministers Desmond McKenzie and Robert Morgan the situation facing residents in his constituency served by the Craig Mill Bridge that has collapsed)
served by Also on the visit were representatives of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management ODPEM and the National Works Agency.
(A truck fell through the flooring of this bridge, section at right, into the river below, last December)
The bridge has been condemned since 2012 and a fording helped vehicles get from one side of the river to the other. But the fording only helps when the river is not in spate. On December 19, when the fording was not usable a driver, took his truck packed with stones across the condemned bridge. The truck fell through the flooring into the river. That meant also that people could not now walk across the Craig Mill bridge either.
So in recent weeks, people have been left marooned because the fording could not be used when the river was in spate. Mr Vaz said the situation was “absolutely” unacceptable and a solution had to be found to prevent people being marooned.
Mr Morgan said they were there to determine “how best we can find an urgent solution to give them some relief”
Mr McKenzie said he would write to the Prime Minister to have the area declared a disaster. “It is a risk to life and property,” he said.
A decision was made to consider alternative walking and driving routes and the old Parish Council road as the temporary solution until a pedestrian bridge is in place. The affected communities are Craig Mill, White Hall and Belvedere.
