The sorry saga of Great Musgrave bridge

In 2021, National Highways infilled a legacy railway bridge at Great Musgrave in Cumbria, prompting an outcry that resulted in the government pausing the company's Major Works programme pending the establishment of a new management and decision-making regime. The circumstances behind this scheme are shocking, with the state-owned roads company misrepresenting its own engineering evidence to drive it through under emergency permitted development rights. But its retrospective planning application to retain the infill permanently was rejected by Eden District Council and the bridge has to be returned to its pre-existing state. What happened here represents an appalling waste of public money and raises serious questions about National Highways' custodianship of the nation's Historical Railways Estate.