New bridge chief calls for halt on Fife homes

THE man who has taken charge of running the Forth Road Bridge today called for a halt to new housing developments in Fife.

Edinburgh city councillor Lawrence Marshall, who officially took control of the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) today, said the huge number of "commuter homes" planned near the Forth was "unsustainable".

Fife Council is building hundreds of new houses near Dunfermline, and has also approved plans for up to 1500 new homes in Inverkeithing Bay, just a few miles north-east of the bridge.

It has prompted fears that the ageing road bridge will be swamped with commuters, as most people living in the area will be travelling to work in Edinburgh.

In his first interview as FETA chairman, Councillor Marshall praises Edinburgh City Council for building "a town the size of Falkirk" on the Shore - because this could stop people uprooting to north of the Forth estuary.

Cllr Marshall, who has no executive portfolio at the city council, will be in charge of FETA for the next two years.

He will oversee controversial plans to replace tolls with a "road user charge" - hitting solo motorists with massive price hikes - and will also be responsible for presenting a business plan for a new road bridge to the Scottish Executive - even though he disagrees with the proposals.

"We're going to have a busy few years ahead of us pursuing the local transport strategy," he said.

"My position is the same as the other Edinburgh councillors and the FETA officials - I don't want a new bridge before a better public transport system is in place - but there's no point in ping-ponging that decision backwards and forwards.

"Fife councillors want to press ahead with a new crossing and that is now the FETA position. Had I been chairman two months ago, I would have used my casting vote to stop that, but there's no point being childish and trying to reverse the decision.

"My main concern is how we get more people out of their cars and on to buses, and how we reduce the number of solo motorists.

"But there are problems with all the developments at places like Inverkeithing Bay. It's not for me to say, but I think Fife should have considered a business park rather than a housing development.

"It's not sustainable to keep building houses when there are no real employment opportunities on that side of the Forth. It just means the houses are bought by Edinburgh commuters."

In April, Fife councillors voted in favour of creating around nine new housing estates in Inverkeithing Bay. At the time, community leaders hit out at the development and warned it would lead to an increase in traffic on the A90.

They also warned that villages around the Firth of Forth are being turned into "commuter land" for people working in the Capital.

But councillors from Fife believe access to and from Edinburgh is vital to their own economy, and they urgently want a new bridge to tackle rising traffic levels.

Mike Rumney, outgoing FETA chairman and head of Fife's environment and development committee, said: "In 2004 nearly 11 per cent of people who bought a house in Fife were from Edinburgh and the Lothians and of those, just under 75 per cent bought a house in west Fife. Edinburgh can't accommodate these people because of the housing land supply.

"A study has already shown that there will be a negative impact on traffic volumes travelling across any future multi-modal bridge into Edinburgh.

"We also need to bear in mind that Fife and Edinburgh could come together under proposals for city region planning and we will have to work together to look at issues like this."