Councillors to Continue to Push for Permanent Bridge

Peterhead South & Cruden councillors Stephen Smith and Stuart Pratt have vowed to continue to push for an early date for construction of a permanent bridge to replace the one lost during December’s stormy weather.

The councillors made the pledge as they visited the newly-opened temporary Bailey bridge which was completed on Friday afternoon.

The resultant road closure after the original bridge was damaged cut off a large part of the village to road traffic although pedestrian access was restored by means of a temporary bridge within two working days.

Gas and water mains and electricity cables running under and alongside the collapsed bridge delayed works and Councillors Smith and Pratt persuaded Aberdeenshire Council that a temporary solution had to be found in the meantime.

Commenting, Cllr Stephen Smith said:

“The opening of the temporary bridge is good news. There is no doubt that local people have been hugely inconvenienced by the detours involved, particularly during periods of bad weather, as the roads used are not used to such volumes of traffic.

“My hope now is for the works on the permanent replacement bridge to commence and be completed as soon as possible and allow things to return to normal in the centre of the village.”

Cllr Stuart Pratt added:

“I’m delighted that the two halves of the village are now once again connected by road. It’s been a long wait with a lot of inconvenience for people in Hatton. The priority now must be to get the permanent replacement in place and the centre of the village restored as soon as possible and myself and my colleague Stephen Smith will be pressing for that to happen.”