WORK on Chepstow’s Old Wye Bridge has been delayed again – and will start next month.

Monmouthshire council has said the work, which was due to start on Monday, will finally start on December 8 and will be completed by April 11, 2015.

The timetable for the work has dragged on through the second half of this year. It was initially meant to start in July and last for seven months but, due to a lack of funds, the scale of work was reduced.

The £500,000 cost will be shared between Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire county councils.

A Monmouthshire council spokesman said complications with design checks means scaffolding will not be fully erected until after Christmas.

If the plan to stat work on Monday had been realised, the council would have had to close Bridge Street, which runs over the bridge, for a fortnight over Christmas.

And area highways manager at Gloucestershire County Council Jenny Goodson said: “Monmouthshire County Council is leading on this project and we are working closely with them. Half of the bridge is in Gloucestershire and half is in Monmouthshire so both county councils are contributing equally to the estimated refurbishment costs.”

Planned works were put on hold in September because quotes for works were too expensive, the local authority said.

A Monmouthshire council spokesman said at the time: “The prices we received exceeded the budget so we revisited the scope of the works.”

Sheila Swift, who lives in Chepstow and uses the bridge on her way to work in Caldicot, previously said if the bridge was in bad condition, work must be done. “It has got to be kept in a good condition,” she added.

In June the council said structural repairs and painting of the bridge would close it for seven months from July 14. But then work was delayed over cost concerns.

Town traders were vocal in opposition to the closure over the summer saying it would drive business away during peak periods.

The Old Wye Bridge was designed 200 years ago, built between 1815 and 1816, and opened in July 1816. Celebrations will be held in 2016 for the 200th anniversary of it opening to traffic.