Highland Council urged to reconsider decision to put brakes on £8.7million new Naver bridge project
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Highland Council has put the brakes on a long-running project to build a replacement £8.7 million bridge over the River Naver.
The local authority halted the scheme just prior to it going out to tender and with a huge amount of preparatory work costing thousands of pounds having already been undertaken.
It has been said that it is a temporary postponement of up to a year, but Highland Council has given no timeframe as to when it will be picked up again, sparking fears it could be permanently shelved.
North Coast communities are said to be "hugely disappointed" over the decision with safety concerns over the existing 142-year old bridge which has been described as "hanging in rust".
Jim Johnston, secretary of Bettyhill, Strathnaver and Altnaharra Community Council, is now urging the local authority to think again.
He said: “I would urge Highland Council and any other agencies involved to get their act together and complete the Naver bridge as a matter of urgency before something disastrous happens with the existing structure.
“The present bridge was built for the horse and cart and has surely served its time.”
Opened by the Duke of Sutherland in 1881, the current Naver bridge is a single-carriageway, iron structure that crosses the River Naver near Bettyhill on the main A836 north coast road.
Fears over its condition have long been voiced particularly because of an increase in traffic on the North Coast 500 tourism route in addition to heavy goods vehicles carrying timber. There is also prospect of even more traffic with the construction of Space Hub Sutherland at the A’Mhoine peninsula.
Former local councillor Linda Munro said in 2021 that the bridge was "hanging in rust".
Highland Council awarded a contract to civil engineers Fairhurst in March 2021 to design a replacement bridge and plans for an 84m long double carriageway steel and concrete structure are in place.
In May 2021 topographic surveys were carried out along with an aerial survey by drone. A jack-up drilling rig was also deployed to enable the river bed to be studied more thoroughly.
Planning consent for the new bridge has been granted as well as a marine licence.
The decision to red-light the project because of budgetary constraints was taken by Highland councillors at a recent meeting.
A local authority spokesman confirmed: “The tender process has been halted following the capital budget decision. There is no firm date (for work to start) at this time.”
North, west and central Sutherland councillor Hugh Morrison updated Tongue Community Council on the situation at its meeting last Tuesday.
He said: "I do not know if you are aware that the Naver Bridge project has been put back for a year. It is really disappointing news and it is a budget decision.
“The three councillors for the north, west and central Sutherland ward challenged it. It is now a question of ‘watch this space’.
“It has gone so far forward now that we don’t want to lose it and we will be monitoring the situation.”
Jim Johnston told the Northern Times that there were “powerful reasons as to why the authority could not continue to kick the project into the long grass”.
“Highland council produced a comprehensive report on the bridge’s condition 24 years ago which recommended that it be replaced in 10 years,” he said.
“No maintenance of any kind has been carried out during that time and the community council has twice been given a qualified assurance that the replacement was unlikely to be abandoned on political grounds because, at 142 years old, it is no longer fit for purpose.”
Mr Johnston added that in 2018 when the Space Hub Sutherland project was announced, the then Westminster Business Secretary Greg Clark was questioned specifically about the Naver Bridge and the single track road to Tongue.
Both the bridge and the road were deemed to be “potential choke points for that nationally significant project”.
“His answer was that, while agencies such as Highland Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise would be ‘dealing with the specifics’, the government had made provision for the necessary infrastructure,” said Mr Johnston. “What I would like to know is how much money these agencies received and what they have done with it.”
