Cloddach Bridge feasibility study to begin
Moray Council is to fund further investigation work for a replacement Cloddach Bridge at a cost of £30,000.
The UK Government has offered £1.5m for a new bridge which the council estimated to cost £3m during previous exploratory work. The grant funding offer, which was announced during the March budget, comes with a number of terms and conditions and is subject to 50% match funding being provided.
At a meeting of full council today (Wednesday 28 June), elected members voted to approve spend of £30,000 to produce a pre-feasibility study before they consider committing the £150,000 required to produce a full business case for the UK Government.
Members also voted to carry forward £1.5m from the 2022/23 capital plan provisionally earmarked to support the Cloddach Bridge replacement, subject to a further report coming forward.
Officers have cautioned that given the low strategic significance of the bridge and limited economic benefits, there remains a risk the full business case is rejected by the UK Government. The pre-feasibility study will identify the high level benefits and costs, including risk associated with the options to re-open the Cloddach Bridge at Birnie, near Elgin, which closed to vehicles in February 2022
Leader of Moray Council, Cllr Kathleen Robertson, said: “With the criteria set for the potential £1.5m from the UK Government, we must ensure we give ourselves the best possible chance of being able to meet their expectations and those of the community. The pre-feasibility study will assist in making sure we know the absolute risk and benefits to committing to this project.
“Given the service doesn’t have the capacity to undertake this work in-house it will be outsourced to an independent contractor and I look forward to seeing the results as soon as practicably possible.”