Warwickshire County Council has defended the near £15m spend so far on the delayed Nuneaton Bermuda Bridge project. Not only has the much-maligned traffic project cost £14.941m so far - four times its original cost - it has also missed and continues to miss a number of milestones.

The county council has yet to provide a definitive date for the works, which are aimed at opening up the bridge in Bermuda village to traffic. But, in the face of questions about the efficiency of the scheme, Councillor Jan Matecki, the cabinet member for transport, told a full county council meeting that it will still complete its objectives and is still "good value for money".

Cllr Jonathan Chilvers said that the stated aim of the scheme was to speed up journey times for vehicles and shave off time compared to using the A444. Cllr Chilvers added: "However, during construction there have been delays which have made those journeys down the A444 slower - so how many years will it take the project to break even in terms of journey times?"

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Cllr Jan Matecki replied that the Bermuda project had a number of aims when it was originally planned, with improved journey times being just one of them. He said: "It has been regularly re-appraised through traffic modelling on anticipated benefits and still presents a strong and positive benefit cost ratio based on the improved outcomes it will generate.

"The Bermuda Connectivity scheme will offer a wide range of people benefiting from the scheme opening up for a long period which we believe will far outweigh the unfortunate temporary traffic disruption created during the construction."

But Cllr Chilvers probed further and asked about the scheme's well documented rising costs - from £3m to now almost £15m, according to the latest county council report. He asked if the cabinet member would commit to making the re-appraisal of the cost benefits available to all councillors so that they could be 'reassured that it is a good value project'.

Cllr Matecki replied: "It is fair (to say) that costs have risen, not least due to inflation and unchartered utilities, but the benefit cost ratio still benefits good value for money."

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