THE finish date for the Lloyd Street bridge remains unclear with the Transport Minister this week saying the state government will go back and ask the City of Swan what they want to do with the project.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti’s comments came after a story in The West Australian said City of Swan Mayor Tanya Richardson blamed the delay in building the bridge on the transport minister.

Over the years the bridge – proposed to span the Helena River with the aim of easing heavy vehicle congestion in the surrounding area – has attracted considerable opposition.

Last year the Save the Helena River Wetlands – Rethink the Lloyd Street Bridge Facebook page cited a motion presented on March 2, 2022 by Midland Guildford ward Cr Rashelle Predovnik to endorse the original design of the Lloyd Street bridge.

The post said adoption of the original design went against months of community and Noongar pleas to re-design the bridge so it went over an important heritage site and (tortoise) wetland and not through it.

Current Mayor Tanya Richardson and current deputy mayor Ian Johnson, who were both councillors back then, were among those to vote against the motion.

On Tuesday Ms Saffioti said the Lloyd Street bridge was a City of Swan project, which they had asked the state government to deliver.

Ms Saffioti said after the state government had started planning on the bridge the city had said ‘We don’t want you to deliver that project because we don’t like the project’.

“We’re currently going through that planning process but I’ve got to say this is becoming increasingly difficult getting a consistent and coherent strategy from some councils when they ask you to help them deliver something and you do that and then they walk away from it or they campaign against it,’’ Ms Saffioti said.

“That’s happened to me a few times in which as I said councils under one particular makeup ask the state government for funding or ask you to take over their project, which we do and then they make it very complex and impossible to deliver.”

On June 11 government leader in the Upper House Sue Ellery, on behalf of the transport minister, responded to questions by the Opposition about the future of the project and when the transport minister would make a decision.

Ms Ellery said the minister advised that a feasibility study was undertaken to assess the viability of an alternative alignment for the project following a section 10 application under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984.

She said the findings of the feasibility study were under consideration in conjunction with the City of Swan, noting the Lloyd Street bridge was a local government initiative.

The City of Swan has been contacted for comment.