HOPES for a second bridge for Walney Island appear to have sunk – with councillors now calling for a “tunnel” or a “causeway”.

The bridge idea appears to have floundered due to concerns over the astronomical costs involved and the lack of funding for such a multi-million project.

Instead, councillors have now discussed a “causeway” – similar to that linking Rampside with Roa Island – as a more viable alternative, although they have not ruled out a tunnel.

However, a causeway too could be out of the question due to the right of navigation in the channel for boat users, a meeting of Barrow Local Committee was told yesterday.

The issue has been on the table over fears of the future viability of the 111-year-old Jubilee Bridge and the growing amount of traffic on the 11-mile-long island.

Walney councillor Mel Worth told a meeting at the Nan Tait Centre that the cost of a second bridge in maintenance alone would be “enormous” and that a causeway was more “realistic” for councillors to lobby for.

“There are difficulties with a causeway - both environmental and navigational - but a causeway is probably the cheapest,” he said. “A tunnel is a great idea, but I think it will be more expensive than a causeway.”

Cllr Bill McEwan, mayor of Barrow, said the island needed a second crossing.

“It’s hard to get to the funding but if we don’t ask, we don’t get,” he said. “Other places have built bridges before and bigger than this,” he said.

Cllr Roy Worthington said: “Everybody seems to be thinking about a bridge. I wonder if a feasibility study has ever taken place for a tunnel? The cost of a bridge would be something like £187 million. I wonder if a tunnel is another option.”

Cllr Anne Burns questioned where such huge sums of money could come from.“These things have been looked at before. We have looked at trying to get a second crossing. The Walney county councillor Alf Horne got all sorts of schemes up and then the costing came forward, and we tried to put some figures on what it would cost, and it went nowhere.

“Walney Island is as big as Ulverston. We need to have a different way of getting across from what we have now which is one bridge that opens and then stops everything moving every time a boat wants to go through.”

Cllr Ben Shirley expressed disappointment with the comments of Cllr Burns, a member of the Labour and Liberal Democrat cabinet at the county council.

Cllr Shirley told the meeting: “For one of the leading lights of the coalition administration to say we are not going to get the money, tell you what, let’s just pack up and go if that’s the attitude.

“We are here to work together cross-party and me and my colleagues are with you on this one. We need a “get it” approach, and to be realistic, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not deluded.”

Committee chairman Kevin Hamilton said numerous politicians had promised a bridge but the committee was serious about working together cross-party to lobby. He said it had to be the number one priority of the committee, Cumbria County Council and Barrow Borough Council.

“We are going to start lobbying. We will do it properly and constructively,” he said.