Fife Council’s South & West Fife Area Committee has unanimously agreed a proposal from Conservative Cllr Dave Dempsey to request an enquiry into the lengthy and as yet unfinished project to replace the footbridge over the Dour Burn at Aberdour Harbour. The previous bridge was washed away during a storm in August 2020.
Cllr Dempsey said “All the local councillors share the public’s frustration that, two years on, the new bridge isn’t in place and there’s no definite date for when it will be. It’s a key element in the Fife Coastal path and its absence is seriously affecting users of the Path and the businesses that rely on them.
“We understand that it wasn’t just the bridge that went and that getting the necessary permissions to construct new supports has been complicated. We know that the council officers involved want this sorted just as much as everyone else.
“However, what we don’t know is whether the Council’s procedures have contributed to the delay. It has seemed that various parts of the project might have been run in parallel, to shorten timescales. That’s certainly a question raised by Aberdour residents.
“Fife Council has a new set of Scrutiny Committees tasked with getting in and about the detail of such matters, so I proposed that we ask the appropriate body, the Environment, Transportation and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee to investigate. That won’t bring back the delays already experienced but if there are lessons to be learned and changes to be made then it’s imperative that those are uncovered and acted on.