Over the last couple of months many of you have contacted me about the swing bridge in Penarth.

Spanning the marina between Plas Pamir and Plas St Pol de Leon, the swing bridge for the last 30 years been an important part of Penarth Marina’s infrastructure and built environment. Unfortunately the swing bridge has been out of commission since June 2016. I have recently met with residents at the site to discuss their concerns and plans to make the bridge once more available to the public.

The bridge is owned by the Vale of Glamorgan Council and leased to Penarth Quays Marina LTD. It was built to ensure that both residents and boat owners had equal access to land and water.

I understand that there are no mechanical reasons why the bridge should not be used, yet it was closed by PQM in the summer of 2016. The Vale Council and PQM have agreed that there needs to be safety upgrades to the bridge for it to reopen.

In October 2017 PQM submitted a planning application for modifications to the swing bridge. It was consulted on and concerns were expressed over proposals to install flashing lights and alarms. I have been told that PQM were contacted by the Vale Council to modify the current application to include lower intensity flashing lights and ‘silent alarms’. Unfortunately PQM felt that the changes would not meet the safety standards they felt necessary and chose to withdraw the application.

The swing bridge has been an integral part of marina life for many years and is enjoyed by both residents and the thousands of tourists to the area. Connecting the two sides of the marina the bridge acts as a short cut for residents, particularly useful for those with walking difficulties. Having spoken to local businesses about the potential for the reopening the consensus seems to be generally positive. Parking on the Portway side of the marina is limited. Reopening of the swing bridge, customers could use the car park on Llwyn Passat and use the bridge to access Portway businesses.

I hope that the Vale of Glamorgan Council and PQM are able to work together to find a solution. I will continue to work with your local Labour Councillors, Neil Thomas and Ruba Sivagnanam on this. I think we can all agree that the way forward is to ensure safe operation of the bridge while minimising disruption to adjacent properties.

As ever, if anyone has any comments or views on this, please get in touch.