Cloddach Bridge near Moray village of Birnie to be rebuilt.
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Moray Council has agreed to replace Cloddach Bridge near Birnie which has been closed to cars and lorries for the past two years.
The local authority narrowly voted earlier today to contribute £2.7million to the £4.23million it estimates the work will cost.
In a surprise announcement within last year’s UK budget, Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, offered £1.5million to help building a new bridge.
However, the council must draw up a business plan and pay the remaining cost.
A lengthy debate today centered on whether or not the local authority could afford that.
This ended resulted in a tied 12-12 vote, so Kathleen Robertson, the council’s leader, had the casting vote.
Cllr Robertson (Forres, Conservative) said: “I used my casting vote to ensure that local residents who have been deeply impacted by this closure were not ignored.
“We’re two years down the line from when we had to close Cloddach Bridge on safety grounds and I appreciate the frustration of locals who just want decisions made.
“We’ll continue to keep stakeholders and the community updated with progress over the next phase of the business case.”
Cloddach Bridge was previously a low priority for repair as it used to be crossed fewer than 7000 times a day.
Draeyk Van Der Horn (Forres, Green) pointed to this during today’s debate, stating it would be “financially illiterate” to commit so much council cash.
For his part, cllr Sandy Keith (Elgin North, Labour) labelled the UK government’s £1.5million announcement as a “political wheeze”.
Meanwhile, cllr Graham Leadbitter (Elgin South, SNP) claimed that the money had “more strings attached to it than an episode of Bill and Ben”.
Cllr Leadbitter questioned what the council’s Conservative administration was going to cut so the crossing could be replaced.
He asked: “Is it other bridges, a swimming pool or a primary school extension?”
The motion to earmark up to £2.7million for the bridge was put forward by cllr Bridget Mustard (Heldon and Laich, Conservative).
She said: “It is a lot of money and it’s right we’ve had a long debate on this.
“Heldon Community Council say it is a priority for them, and they committed all their available funding to further the matter.”
Amber Dunbar (Elgin North, Conservative) told the meeting that if the bridge fell into complete disrepair, it would cost the council £830,000 to demolish it.
She said: “I would rather spend money on something rather than nothing.”
After the debate, Moray’s Conservative MP praised council leader Kathleen Robertson for “doing the right thing”
Douglas Ross said: “SNP and Labour councillors, working hand in hand, were hellbent on trying to stop this from happening because they didn’t want to welcome the funding given by the Chancellor.”
Cloddach Bridge was built in 1905 with an estimated lifespan of between 100 and 120 years.
Its condition has deteriorated over the last two decades.
In 2001 a 7.5 tonne weight restriction was imposed, which was then lowered to three tonnes in 2019.
A two metre height restriction was also put in to stop non-compliant vehicles from crossing, but was repeatedly hit by drivers in the months before it closed to motorists.
