Parish councillors say local residents have been left ‘marooned and isolated' following the partial closure of a vital bridge.

Ditton Bridge, over the West Coast Mainline and Ditton Brook, has been reduced to a single lane and is only open to traffic leaving the village. Returning residents are required to make a five mile detour via Halewood to get back home.

All bus services through Halebank and neighbouring Hale Village have been cancelled, with local councillors saying many residents have been left 'stranded' and unable to get to work, shops, amenities or important medical appointments.

The partial closure is to enable Scottish Power to carry out urgent repairs, although Halton Council has denied claims by the parish council that the repairs are due to damage from traffic.

Cllr Terry Colquitt, Halebank Parish Council chairman, said: "It’s frankly outrageous that the community and the Parish Council were given absolutely no warning about the bridge closure and the withdrawal of vital bus services to the people of Halebank and Hale. It is even more outrageous that neither Scottish Power nor Halton Council are willing to pay for a shuttle bus to connect residents to the rerouted service via Speke.”

A spokesperson for Scottish Power, said: "Due to an underground cable fault and the need to safely carry out urgent repairs to ensure the continued reliability and resilience of the local electricity network, we’ve had to implement temporary traffic restrictions including one-way traffic flow on Ditton Bridge.”

She added: “We are fully appreciate the disruption this causes for local people and have worked closely with the local council to put in place the least impactful option. We’re pulling out all the stops to ensure the works are completed as quickly as possible, including working over the weekend, and we currently expect to be finished by Wednesday September 4 at the latest. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused."

A council spokeswoman said the authority has worked with bus company Arriva which has agreed to run a free shuttle bus between Baguley Avenue in Halebank to Eastern Avenue in Speke. It will run hourly from 7:15am and will meet up with the scheduled services in Speke.

She added: "The fact that these are emergency works to protect power supplies meant no notice was given to any party. The cable has not been damaged by road traffic as Halebank Parish Council suggests."

The bridge has been a bone of contention between Halton Council and the parish council before. The Parish Council has also been pressing Halton and Network Rail for evidence that the necessary statutory inspections of the bridge’s structural condition have been carried out. It comes in the wake of Halton planning chiefs approving a new 500-home estate, which the parish council claims will place more pressure on the bridge.

Cllr John Anderton, Parish Council deputy chair, added: "Halton Council recently gave planning permission for 500 new houses in a village that currently cannot be accessed due to the structural condition of its only road lifeline caused by excessive volumes of traffic. If there weren’t serious safety considerations at stake this would be almost comical."

The Halton Council spokeswoman, said: “Structural engineers have provided assurance that Ditton Bridge is safe, and the Parish Council has nothing to support their view that the bridge is dangerous.

"Halton Council has twice suggested access improvement schemes for Halebank - however Halebank Parish Councillors have rejected these, preferring to prioritise the open land opposite Lovell Terrace, and the setting of Halebank Road Conservation Area, as being much more important than access improvements and diverting HGVs away from the residential areas of Halebank."

For full information, diversion routes and shuttle times click here.