SNP Councillor Drew Hendry

Archive for June, 2010

SNP Highland Councillor, Drew Hendry, has asked for money to be made available for works to the bridge at Lower Foyers. Highland Council’s Resources Committee was told that £250,000 lies unspent from the stalled Ness Hydro project in the Capital Expenditure budget of the Chief Executive’s budget. The lifeline bridge has been out of commission for over 20 years and the community in Lower Foyers have had to make to with an ageing Bailey bridge which was only ever supposed to be a temporary measure. Recently even foot crossings over the old bridge were ruled out and concern was raised about access to Lower Foyers in the event of an emergency, especially after the dramatic landslide there in 2009. As a result of the concerns, Councillor Hendry forced the Emergency Planning department to create an individual plan for Lower Foyers and called, at that time for a permanent solution for access to Lower Foyers.

Speaking after the committee, SNP Councillor Drew Hendry (Aird and Loch Ness) said:

 “It is pretty clear that the Ness Hydro scheme is going nowhere in the near future and at the same time we have real need of attention in Lower Foyers. I have asked that these funds be made available for projects like the Lower Foyers bridge because this is really due some attention after over 20 years and there are funds to start some work. Although the sum involved is probably not nearly enough to get the whole job done, it could pay for investigation and preliminary work to be undertaken and then if there is further delay to other works it would be ready to benefit. It could possibly enable some measures to reintroduce the foot crossing closed last year.  I was pleased that the Chair of Resources, Carloyn Wilson agreed to consider this along with other suitable projects.”

He added “If there is money that is not working hard for the public at the moment then we need to identify it and apply the support to those things that can be delivered. I hope that the people of Lower Foyers are considered by the Administration and that we can finally see some progress on getting the bridge sorted before there is a critical problem.

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