When it was first built, I had a letter published in the Times suggesting that, if they dismantled it bolt by bolt, it would just fit neatly between The Needles and The Isle Of Wight, where it might serve some purpose.

The completion of motorways on both sides of the Humber, and the scrapping of an eastern motorway scheme to bring Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire into the western world denied it any real purpose. Add to that the dissolution of Humberside and you've just about denied it its last use: Shuffling council files to and fro across the river!

It was built as Barbara Castle's election promise and will never pay for itself.