High and mighty

It's a fair bet that Robert Stephenson would be stunned to learn the pressure his High Level Bridge has to put up with these days.

When Stephenson built his bridge midway through the 19th century cars were not even a twinkle in anybody's eye.

Now thousands trundle across his bridge every day, in addition to the trains that Stephenson did provide for.

It's starting to look like it all might be a bit too much for the old bridge. It has seen great service over the years, but if we want to keep it as something more than an ornament then we might have to be a little more careful with it.

This is the view advanced by Network Rail as it prepares to shut the bridge to road traffic for six months from next April to allow vital strengthening work to take place.

Its suggestion that the bridge remain closed to road traffic or, alternatively, allow only buses and taxis to cross, is one that merits serious consideration.

That much was acknowledged yesterday by councillors on both sides of the river.

Such a closure would have commuters banging their steering wheels in despair. They already face long delays on the Tyne Bridge and the Redheugh Bridge, delays which would be bound to increase with the closure of the High Level Bridge.

However, matters may not be as bad as all that. The 1997 closure of Hammersmith Bridge in London for essential repairs did produce rising congestion on nearby crossings - but, perhaps more surprisingly, also resulted in 25pc of its traffic being `lost from the network' - that is either using public transport, cycling, walking or not travelling at all.

The junctions at both ends of the High Level Bridge are notorious congestion blackspots, to which the bridge's closure will being relief.

The six-month closure gives Newcastle and Gateshead councils plenty of opportunity to study traffic flows.

It could be that Tyneside - which has after all managed to cope with quite of lot of bridge closures recently - can get by without the High Level Bridge.

In those circumstances perhaps Stephenson's fine achievement can be allowed something of a quieter life in the future.

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A drawn-out death

The debate over foxhunting drags on and on and the Government yesterday continued to show the weakness and vacillation that has characterised its approach from the start.

For people in the countryside this issue is of tremendous importance - both practical, in that the loss of hunting will cost jobs and livelihoods - and symbolic. To them the willingness of urban Labour MPs to drive hunting into extinction is emblematic of Labour's couldn't-care-less attitude to rural affairs.

As for those people who loathe hunting - and there are many of them - the Government's unwillingness to pursue a ban with every means at its disposal has been a severe letdown.

The Government has simply let this controversy stagger on for seven years, perhaps in the hope that it would somehow resolve itself.

But there are strong feelings on both sides, and compromise is not an option for many, particularly the anti-hunt lobby, which finally scents victory.

Whatever happens now, the Government will know this is not the end of its troubles on this issue. That's the price it will pay for what has been a marked lack of leadership.

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