Country Stores boss faces massive losses

Costs may run into hundreds of thousands of pounds

The impact of the Kerse Road bridge closure on the local economy was brought into sharp focus when a local businessman addressed the council planning panel.

Andrew Rettie, managing director of McCaskie Country Stores, based at Munro Road in Springkerse, told members the impact on his business could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Network Rail say they need to replace the bridge as part of their wider rail electrification project.

But they also say it would mean closing Kerse Road, one of the main routes into and out of the city centre, for around 12 months.

At last week’s hearing before Stirling Council’s planning panel, Mr Rettie described Network Rail’s attitude as “pompous, arrogant and inconsiderate of the businesses”.

“There are three generations of my family involved in the business and we employ 55 staff,” said Mr Rettie.

“This proposal has been on the go for such a long time, yet we have been given such a short time to consider what is a major disruption for this town.”

He added: “Kerse Road is a main arterial route to the city centre and this will cause a lot of negative effects. There seems to be a total lack of a traffic assessment.

“I can’t understand why a major project like this can come before you without a proper impact assessment.

“The roads are all chocca at peak times anyway. The road was queued right back to the motorway on the days of the recent temporary closure. There will be rat runs around town.

He went on: “Our business covers a large geographical area, a large part of which comes from the west side.

“Our customers are mainly farmers and country people with landrovers and livestock. Are they going to go all the way on a six mile detour to our premises?

“We have loyal customers but once the road is reopened it will be hard to get customers back by then.

“There has been no impact study done on businesses.

“A 12-month closure is quite incredible. I know Farmfoods have concerns about the closure and ValetTech say they didn’t even take enough to cover the rental of their powerwasher on the recent closure days. We understand work has to take place but there needs to be a different approach or another way of building this bridge.

“Businesses and residents are not being looked after.”

Panel member Councillor Christine Simpson said it was “crucial” that any assessment took into account the impact on businesses.