Never used bridge on new road may be torn down

Councillor Chris Watts pictured by the bridge at the Southern Connector Road

A bridge which has never carried any traffic may have to be torn down and replaced.

Swindon's Southern Connector road, built to connect 10,000 houses to the A419 and the M4, cost nearly £40m but has never opened after the company behind it, Buckingham Group, collapsed before safety checks could be carried out.

Swindon Borough councillor Chris Watts said the council is looking into replacing the bridge after "major concerns" were found in a new investigation.

Buckingham Group told the BBC they did not own the land and were in ongoing discussions with the council.

Mr Watts said the quality of work was very poor, most obviously with the bridge but he added there were also "big problems everywhere", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council's latest tests found materials such as brick and plaster board risk "undermining the integrity of the construction" and issues with the bridge embankments.

The Southern Connector road, which runs from the Commonhead Roundabout to South Marston, was due to be handed over to the council in the spring of 2023, but Buckingham Group went into administration days before.

A crack in the bridge's surface was discovered by Swindon Borough Council

Since then, the council said it had not been safe to open the "cracked" road. It added the bridge - which runs over streams in low-lying, marshy land - was also unusable.

Faults with the road surfacing, embankments, verges and road safety requirements have been uncovered.

Mr Watts said: "The bridge is basically unusable. There are cracks in it and it is moving very significantly without any traffic using it at all.

"It just isn't constructed well enough to be able to take any traffic."

'Take the bridge down'

Mr Watts called for a decision to be made on the future of the project.

He asked: "Do we make repairs to the bridge so it can be used, knowing that it won't last as long as it needs to, and then have to face the same problem again a little later; or do we take the bridge down?"

If the bridge was removed, it could be replaced by a new one, or brooks and streams could be culverted under the road, Mr Watts said.

The administrators of Buckingham Group said they were "in ongoing discussions with the local council, and a conflict administrator to deal with this project was appointed in July 2025".

It added it would be "inappropriate to comment further at this time", but clarified it did not own the land, nor does the contractor.

The council said it should "know more" on the future of the bridge by the end of the year.