Aberdeenshire MP and Fire Chief add their voices to campaign to secure Aboyne bridge repair funding
A north east MP has joined campaigners in calls for funding to secure “safe and speedy” access over the Dee.
B-listed Aboyne bridge closed to vehicles in October after Storm Babet revealed concrete damage extended “far more than is visible on the surface.” Aberdeenshire Council anticipated an 18-month window for closure to allow a “specialist structural consultancy” to survey the extent. The diversion is across the nearest bridge at Dinnet - which itself is going to one-way traffic within the next two months.
The Fix Aboyne Bridge Community Action Group said they will pursue “central government funding” and are taking the council “out of the equation” because there is no local authority money left for repairs.The bridge was unsuccessful in attracting Scottish Government funding last year, alongside Park Bridge between Durris and Drumoak, also in Andrew Bowie’s constituency.
The West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP said: “Local people are right to expect the restoration of safe and speedy access across the Dee at Aboyne, and Park, which has been closed for four years. Now the ‘red list’ Dinnet bridge is going down to one lane and traffic control, things aren’t going to improve for motorists.This is affecting families and jobs, as well as emergency services, who are forced to take lengthy detours around bridges, to homes and businesses they can see yards away. The council is doing its best to get the right people in to estimate how much it’s all going to cost. Repairing the bridges backlog would cost almost four times the council’s annual budget.”
He continued: “The community have had enough, and I am going to help them source external funding, anything that can be used to get these bridges done, as a priority.”
Mr Bowie sounded the safety warning over emergency service access following a meeting at Aboyne fire station.Watch Commander Alastair Griffiths gave him an overview of Scottish Fire and Rescue’s work on Deeside. The closure means fire crews sent from Aboyne station are taking an extra 15 minutes to cross the Dee via Dinnet — at minimum — to access incidents on the south side.
