HOPES were today rising that Ipswich Buses would get a new depot at Hadleigh Road before the end of the decade.Work is due to start on strengthening the Hadleigh Road bridges to enable them to take larger lorries and buses later this year.

HOPES were today rising that Ipswich Buses would get a new depot at Hadleigh Road before the end of the decade.

Work is due to start on strengthening the Hadleigh Road bridges to enable them to take larger lorries and buses later this year.

Once that is complete, by the late summer of next year, work should be able to start on the new bus depot on the site of the former Harris Bacon factory and that would enable it to be opened by the middle of 2009.

Once that is opened, the current bus depot on Constantine Road will be redeveloped as part of the Ipswich Village project.

Ipswich Buses managing director Malcolm Robson said: “This saga seems to have been going on for ever, but now Network Rail is saying that work to strengthen the bridges and their approaches should start in September.

“That should take about a year and work on our site should take about nine months so the whole programme should take about 21 months - which would mean we would be in there before 2010.”

Network Rail insisted that the bridge parapets and the approach to the depot should be strengthened following the Selby rail disaster of 2001 when a van came off a road on to the rail line and caused a crash which led to the deaths of 10 people.

The bus company had feared that delays in getting agreement for the work to be carried out in Hadleigh could force them to search for alternative premises.

As well as the bus depot, the recycling depot - currently on Portman Walk - is also due to be moved to Hadleigh Road as part of the larger redevelopment.