Bridge collapses mean a hole lot of trouble for villagers
Community council says residents are being ignored
Villagers in a west Stirling community fear they are being ‘ignored and cut-off’after a vital road was shut following a bridge collapse.
On Wednesday, we told how the A809 road through Croftamie was closed – from the B834 to the A811 – after a section of parapet wall and pavement at Catter Burn Bridge partially collapsed into the water.
It occurred sometime between 4pm and 5pm on Thursday, September 30 and Stirling Council has put a diversion route in place, via the B834 and A81 to Ballat Crossroads, with HGVs diverted via the B834 and A875 through Killearn and Balfron.
However, Croftamie Community Council says it has been in discussion with the local authority for approximately six years and say residents “feel ignored by Stirling Council and now cut-off ”.
A spokesperson for the community council said: “After more than six years of discussions between Stirling Council and Croftamie Community Council, the wall to the village bridge has given way.
“As a small rural village, approximately 16-miles from the heart of Glasgow, our residents feel ignored by Stirling Council and now cut off.
“Our local businesses, like others, have to fight hard to survive through these challenging times and now to be let down by an A-class roadway being completely shut is tough to take.”
The spokesperson added: “The community rallied, like other villages, during the Covid pandemic to support the elderly and isolated, but this 10mile diversion makes life much more complicated, especially when we have no public transport. Bus services stopped around five years ago and we have to rely on our own cars or the goodwill of others, for those without them, to reach basic services.”
The community also has concerns over another key route in and out of the village. The spokesperson says that a section of the A811, around a mile and a half from the village, between Drymen and Croftamie, at the opposite end of the village from the Catter Burn Bridge, is slowly slipping in to the River Endrick.
The spokesperson went on: “There have been long-term temporary lights there also, we are wondering how long it will be before we are totally stranded.”
Responding, a spokesperson for Stirling Council said: “We are doing all we can to get the bridge repaired as soon as possible and will provide a further update for the community in the coming weeks.”
It’s understood that the council’s roads service department is currently going through a procurement process in order to appoint a contractor for works on the A811 at the River Endrick Bridge Junction, with works potentially commencing in November.
Stirling’s SNP MP Alyn Smith has written to Stirling Council Chief Executive Carol Beattie raising residents’ concerns. In his letter, Mr Smith said that there have been reports that alternative routes are struggling and says single-track roads are being used as alternative routes.
Mr Smith this week told the Observer: “I have received urgent messages of concern from local constituents, regarding the closure of Catter Burn Bridge and other bridges in rural Stirling. These roads remain crucial for local residents and businesses, and I’m heartened to see Stirling Council act swiftly to protect the public.
“I’ve written to the Chief Executive of Stirling Council seeking further information on repair timetables, as well as assurances regarding the council’s infrastructure maintenance plans.
Rural communities depend heavily on a number of key roads, and swift repairs will ensure delays are minimised, and traffic, people and goods can continue to flow.”
Forth and Endrick Tory councillor Jane Hutchison said: “It’s sickening that people in Forth and Endrick are having to contend with another road closure at the Catter Burn Bridge due to a partial collapse with work still not yet started at Branshogle Bridge a shocking eight months after the road there was closed.
“I echo the calls by community councils across my ward for urgent regular inspections of the many aged bridges in the area. We cannot allow this to happen to another bridge. If it were to happen on the road to Balmaha and Rowardennan where there could be no diversion it doesn’t bear thinking about.
“This week the council was telling us about their new community engagement and consultation process – let me tell them; the residents and businesses in the many villages affected by road closures due to catastrophic bridge failures are ready to be consulted and engaged with right now. They want communication, they want action and they want transparency from Stirling Council.”
At a full council meeting yesterday (Thursday), Forth and Endrick independent councillor Robert Davies asked if a temporary structure could alleviate pressures. He said: “This particular road has been affected by road closures by Stirling Council, East Dunbartonshire Council and most recently the collapse of the Catter Burn Bridge and this has put enormous pressure on local businesses. As a short term measure can we consider a temporary bridge at Croftamie to replace the Catter Burn bridge.”
Councillor Jim Thomson, environment and housing convener said: “The first thing I did was check if the Catter Burn
Bridge was an A-listed structure. It isn’t, which should make it much simpler in general terms. Without seeing the site survey investigation, there’s no commitment as such, but I do want to fast track that.
“There’s an understanding that it will affect businesses hence the need to make this happen as fast as we can.”
Routes in west Stirling have been under pressure with two other closures in the area putting strain on local infrastructure.
In May this year, we reported how farmers and HGV drivers were facing a 19-mile diversion after part of a bridge on a rural road outside Balfron collapsed, closing the route.
Branshogle Bridge on the B818 partially collapsed back in March but consultants for Stirling Council fear that “a further collapse is likely”, resulting in a full closure.
The closure meant that lorries looking to head along the route between Balfron and Fintry now must take a lengthy detour via Buchlyvie, Arnprior and Kippen.
Last month, we told how another bridge on the outskirts on Balfron was forced to close after a massive fracture of a water pipe which carries supplies from Loch Katrine to Glasgow.
Ballochruin Bridge was out of bounds as Scottish Water carried out repairs to a section of the pipeline which burst there. The structure, on the Ballochruin Road, C54, closed after one of the large cast-iron water main pipes fractured. The road runs from Balfron Station to Boquhan and crosses the Endrick at Ballochruin bridge. The pipe burst, adjacent to the bridge, has caused the road surface to subside.
Last month, Balfron Community Council called for an “urgent review” of all bridges surrounding the village, adding: “It would not take many more road closures to isolate the village entirely.”