Bridge bullies
Network Rail were at Braehead Community Council on Monday to give an update on their plans to replace the Kerse Road bridge and confirmed they are seeking a complete closure of the bridge between May 2017 and May 2018.
A five-day closure begins this week to allow Network Rail to get in about the bridge and see exactly what they’re dealing with. At the same time Stirling Council have deployed dozens of traffic monitoring stations on roads likely to see an increase in traffic.
We learned 22,000 journeys are made over the bridge on a daily basis.
The planning application is due to be heard by the planning panel of Stirling Council as the end of this month, before we know the results of the traffic monitoring study. Planners are being asked to make a decision without knowing all of the facts and that is ridiculous.
Network Rail are four years into a five-year programme of works and have known for years Kerse Road would be a problem. When asked why they can’t delay the application or extend the programme of works, we were told they might lose the funding from the Scottish Government if the project not completed by the end of 2018, jeopardising the entire electrification programme.
If I were thinking cynically I might think they’ve left it to almost the last minute in order to force the issue through on terms favourable to them.
We saw Barnton Street traders close because of the much shorter period of works there. I dread to think what may happen to some of the traders in Springkerse affected by this closure.
While Network Rail are deploying some slick PR into communities there simply isn’t enough time or information for proper scrutiny of their plans and that isn’t fair to the communities and businesses who will be massively affected by this closure. work any more (along with becoming a pilot, a ballroom dancer and a scuba diver).
I discovered, bizarrely, that salmon fishing is illegal in Scotland on a Sunday and has been since the 1860s. I suspect when the law was passed it had something to do with the church not wanting people to enjoy themselves too much but it’s odd the law still exists today.
I’m now even less likely to take up salmon fishing if I’m not able to do it on 50 per cent of my days off.