Aberdeenshire Council is “holding the government to ransom” with its objection to long-delayed plans for an A90 flyover at Laurencekirk, a local campaigner has argued.
Laurencekirk resident Jill Fotheringham has been fighting for almost 20 years for safety improvements at the junction between the A90 and the A937 Montrose road, just south-east of the town.
The busy stretch of road, which is limited to 50mph, is notorious for crashes and near-misses, and accounts for a huge percentage of A90 speeding offences between Stonehaven and Dundee.
After a decade of campaigning by Jill and others, the Scottish Government confirmed £24 million for design and construction of a flyover in 2016.
There were hopes the works could be completed by 2022.
But seven years on, work has yet to commence on the project.
This has been because of four objections, including one from Aberdeenshire Council.
Although one of the four has recently been resolved after discussions with Transport Scotland, three of them — including the council’s — remain and are preventing all progress.
Aberdeenshire Council says it “remains committed” to the project.
But Jill believes its objection is in fact an “underhanded” way of getting the Scottish Government to pay for the repairs of a crucial bridge near Laurencekirk, which she thinks the council should have fixed itself long ago.
‘They knew it was deteriorating, and they’re holding the government to ransom for it’
A key reason behind the council’s objection to the flyover plans revolves around Oatyhill railway bridge, just south-west of Laurencekirk.
The 170-year-old railway crossing was shut to all vehicles in July 2020, due to “serious concerns over the integrity and strength of the structure”.
With the crumbling bridge shut, the only way to drive in and out for residents living in Oatyhill is via a junction with the A90.
But if work on the flyover would mean closing the A90 access to Oatyhill, then the residents would be completely cut off.
Jill said she’s “pleased” that one of the four objections has now been addressed, but said “the main one for me is still Aberdeenshire Council”.
She said the objection was made by the council “because they knew that the plans would close the A90 access to Oatyhill, leaving properties with no access because they shut the bridge”.
The campaigner said: “They knew beforehand that Oatyhill Bridge was deteriorating, and they waited until all the plans were in place and then they could raise an objection, to make the government pay for the repair of it.
“They [the council] are responsible for Oatyhill Bridge.
“And I believe that should have been a priority over Abbeyton Bridge up at Fordoun, which they’ve announced they will fix now, but they’re still not willing to fix Oatyhill Bridge — they want the government to do it.
“They’ve managed to wrangle it all into the flyover, and complicate matters.
“They knew it was deteriorating, and they’re holding the government to ransom on it.
“So as far as I’m concerned, Aberdeenshire Council are absolutely underhanded.”
The estimated costs of repairing Oatyhill Bridge would be around £1m, according to the council.
Flyover could be more important than ever with growing population around Laurencekirk
Jill says she thinks that with more homes being built around the Laurencekirk area, safety improvements at the infamous stretch of A90 will become even more necessary.
“There’s still a lot of accidents going on, and traffic is going to get heavier because Aberdeenshire Council are allowing all these new builds in the area,” said Jill.
“There’s Marykirk, and houses going up in Laurencekirk… it’s absolutely disgusting they’re allowing this work to progress, and yet they themselves are holding up the most essential piece of infrastructure the town needs to cope with all these new homes.”
Council says it hopes a ‘technical solution’ can be found to let flyover progress and protect Oatyhill access
A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said the local authority “remains committed to supporting the project”.
And it also “anticipates that a technical solution can be found to both deliver the long-awaited junction improvement, but also maintain safe access to the properties south of Oatyhill”.
He added: “Aberdeenshire Council continues to meet regularly with Transport Scotland and their technical team to look at solutions, and is committed to maintaining a high level of partnership working on the project.”
If objections aren’t resolved, already-delayed Laurencekirk flyover project could be kicked even further down the road
Kevin Stewart, the newly-appointed transport minister, said the Scottish Government also “remains committed” to getting safety improvements done on the A90/A937 junction “as soon as possible”.
He added: “Transport Scotland has been working with the objectors to try and resolve concerns where possible, and we continue to engage in positive dialogue with Aberdeenshire Council with a view to resolving their objection.
“To date we have successfully resolved one of the objections and we continue to make positive progress on the remaining three objections”.
The minister warned however that should Transport Scotland be unsuccessful in removing all the objections, “a public local inquiry may be required”.
Such an inquiry may hold up progress on the flyover for years.
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