The incident saw a village – also called Pooley Bridge – effectively cut off from the south until a temporary bridge was opened three months later to carry the A592 over the River Earmont once more.

Cumbria County Council is now investing £5M in a permanent replacement for the former Grade II listed structure, which will be a 39m long, single span stainless steel road bridge. It has been designed to be more resilient to future extreme weather events.

Groundworks have already got under way and the construction phase of the project is expected to last from September to spring 2020, starting with the removal of the current temporary structure.

“We have now reached another important milestone in this exciting project with construction work about to start on site,” said Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport Keith Little.

“As part of the project, a temporary footbridge will be provided to help maintain pedestrian access in and out of the village while the new bridge is built.”

Unprecedented levels of rainfall caused extensive flooding across Cumbria in the winter of 2015. “The replacement bridge project for Pooley Bridge is a key part of the County Council’s infrastructure recovery programme,” added Keith Little. The programme has also involved repairs to hundreds of roads, slopes, bridges and other assets throughout the county.

(Photograph: Cumbria County Council)