An administrative blunder means consultation over the proposed £121m Third River Crossing at Great Yarmouth will need to be extended, but council bosses insisted it will not delay the project.

Eastern Daily Press: Illustrative design to show one of the opening mechanisms being considered for the third river crossing in Great Yarmouth. Photo: Norfolk County CouncilIllustrative design to show one of the opening mechanisms being considered for the third river crossing in Great Yarmouth. Photo: Norfolk County Council (Image: Norfolk County Council)

Norfolk County Council started consultation over the new lifting bridge in August and it closed at the end of October.

However, in the final days of that consultation, a consultee noticed that 21 plans, which should have been included in the consultation document's preliminary environmental report had been accidentally left out.

So the council has added those plans to the suite of documents and re-opened the consultation to run until Sunday, December 9.

But the council says the extended consultation should not affect the timetable for getting the development consent order application to the planning inspector.

Eastern Daily Press: Martin Wilby,chairman of Norfolk County Council's environment, development and transport committee. Pic: Norfolk Conservatives.Martin Wilby,chairman of Norfolk County Council's environment, development and transport committee. Pic: Norfolk Conservatives. (Image: Norfolk Conservatives)

Martin Wilby, chair of Norfolk County Council's environment, development and transport committee, said: 'An administrative error on one of the supporting documents to the consultation means that some plans were missing from the version published.

'In response, we have extended the deadline to make sure that people are aware of the issue and have plenty of opportunity to read and comment on the missing plans alongside the published consultation documents.

'We apologise for any confusion this has caused and would like to reassure people that the project remains on schedule.'

A final decision would be made by the secretary of state and the council hopes that will mean construction of the bridge over the River Yare can start in late 2020.

It would see a crossing linking the A47 at Harfreys Roundabout on the western side of the river to South Denes Road on the eastern side of the river.

A dual carriageway road would link Harfreys roundabout to the new roundabout and continue to the bridge to meet South Denes Road at a traffic light controlled junction.

At a meeting of the full county council on Monday, councillors agreed to add the cost of the scheme to its capital programme.

That includes £98m from the Department for Transport, money from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and £20.5m the council is having to underwrite through borrowing.

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