New bridge faces bird hold-up

Published on Friday 14 September 2007 12:05

THE building of a new road bridge over the Forth could take up to ten months longer than planned because of breeding birds.

Transport Scotland has said the construction of a new bridge would take five-and-a-half years.

But it has now emerged that a report for the transport agency has warned building may have to be halted during bird breeding seasons because of Scottish Natural Heritage restrictions.

Similiar restrictions were placed on the building of a new bridge upstream, at Kincardine, and it is thought up to ten months could be lost due to the rules.

Pro-tunnel campaign group ForthTAG highlighted the delay as members met Scottish Government ministers to hand over a dossier of what they claim are discrepancies in the case for a cable-stayed bridge - Transport Scotland's recommended option.

The group claims the debate over a replacement crossing to the west of the existing Forth Road Bridge, which may not be able to carry traffic after 2019, has been biased in favour of a another road-only bridge.

ForthTAG said the hold-up in building for the bird breeding season - and other issues such as the congestion on a new road-only crossing - needed to be made clear to the public.

The group's founder John Carson, who lives in South Queensferry and is the former head of Miller Civil Engineering, met Finance Secretary John Swinney, Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson and senior officials from Transport Scotland.

He said Mr Swinney told him he would overrule Transport Scotland's recommendation for a bridge if he felt the case did not stack up.

Mr Carson said: "I am glad we have had the opportunity to show the ministers the discrepancies that exist in Transport Scotland's case for a new bridge.

"It is important that these facts are aired before it is too late.

"The government is under a lot of pressure because of the time constraints with the existing bridge, but they have not been given the full story, and I was heartened to hear that John Swinney still has an open mind."

Ministers are expected to make a decision in the autumn over a variety of tunnel options, which would cost up to 2.3bn and take up to seven-and-a-half years to build, and a new bridge costing 1.5 billion.

Margaret Smith, Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh West, said: "The public exhibitions were very slick but biased to the position that Transport Scotland have favoured all along, namely a bridge.

"I am disappointed to see that the preferred option is a cable stay bridge which will only carry road vehicles. This is short sighted.

"It seems we are at real risk of building a 20th century bridge rather than a 21st century one."

A Transport Scotland spokeswoman denied that the tunnel option was not being given a fair chance.

She said: "The exhibitions provided estimates of construction timelines for all three types of crossings. Transport Scotland recognises that there could be restrictions upon construction periods in such an environmentally sensitive area. This could apply to bridge and tunnel options."

A Scottish Natural Heritage spokesman said a full assessment of the impact of construction would be made when the type and location of a new crossing was chosen.