Bridge bid and impact go hand in hand

Councillors on the planning panel said it was impossible to“divorce”the new Kerse Road bridge application with the impact on local roads and businesses.

Council planners had recommended the bridge application be approved with a“negative suspensive condition” attached, which would have meant no work could be undertaken requiring the full or partial closure of Kerse Road until a transport assessment and traffic management plan had been submitted to and approved by the planning authority.

Network Rail had argued that all that was being asked for at this point was permission for the new bridge.

However, panel members felt it would weaken their position in future should they at a later date decide mitigation measures were inadequate, effectively then refusing the application, and Network Rail then took the matter to appeal.

They also appeared concerned that simply refusing the application last week risked Network Rail then appealing to the Scottish Government, at best limiting any influence the panel may have.

Network Rail representatives claimed they were working closely with local authorities to minimise disturbance, but were slapped down by panel chair Councillor Margaret Brisley when they suggested there was no reason a decision could not be made on the bridge that day and there was “ample opportunity”to discuss traffic management. They said the Kerse Road was a critical location for their network electrification plans and could ultimately delay the switching on of the wider network by December 2018.

Councillor Neil Benny had said he was torn between describing the hearing as“useful”and“a total and monumental waste of time”, adding:“I get what Network Rail are trying to do. The electrification is a good project which will be good for Stirling, however, the wider bridge replacement programme has already been disruptive for Stirling and we took a lot of that on the chin - but the Kerse Road bridge is so key to Stirling’s transport. The traffic impact will be over the entire city and probably wider.”