DACC President call for feedback on the impact of Forth Bridge Closure

Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce wants to hear from businesses about the Forth Road Bridge closure

Latest update: The Scottish Government has now agreed to open up the priority HGV/bus route on the A985 to all light goods vehicles as of Monday 14 December 2015.

Yesterday, Scottish Chambers of Commerce and Fife Chamber took part in a conference call with the Scottish Government regarding the ongoing situation around the temporary closure of the Forth Road Bridge. The teleconference was chaired by the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney MSP and also participating was the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities, Keith Brown MSP, alongside officials from Transport Scotland.

In terms of the additional public transport options that have been put in place, the bulk of the overcrowding on rail services is occurring prior to 0745-0800. As a result, an additional Inverkeithing to Edinburgh service has commenced, departing at 0552. Bus services are very underutilised, running at only 10-12% of capacity, despite a 25 minute journey time between Ferry Toll and the Kincardine Bridge. Both Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government are looking at ways to encourage greater utilisation of the capacity that exists of bus services.

Some spare capacity also exists on the HGV/bus transport corridor in Fife and Transport Scotland are prepared to look at the possibility of opening this up to other road users, such as LGVs and car share vehicles or taxis.

The Deputy First Minister said that the work on the bridge was progressing well and that it should reopen to all traffic by the end of this year. However it was notable that neither Ministers nor Transport Scotland went out of their way to dispel any of the hearsay that was raised about the possibility of the bridge potentially remaining closed for a longer period of time. We will continue to press the Scottish Government on timescales.

The Scottish Government says that it is willing to look at specific problems faced by specific businesses caused by the Bridge issues and to see if these can be addressed. This being the case, if any members of DACC are experiencing difficulties as a result of the bridge closure, then do let Alison Henderson at DACC know (e: alisonhenderson@dundeeandanguschamber.co.uk or telephone 01382 228545) and we will feed this to Scottish Government and Dundee and Angus Councils. Going beyond the pressing problems that the closure may be causing specific member businesses, DACC would also like to assess what economic impact the Forth Bridge is causing in the short and medium term so any member feedback would be most useful and welcome.

A Ministerial statement on the closure of the Forth Road Bridge is due to be made to the Scottish Parliament. If anything else comes out of that, we’ll keep you informed. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do get in touch.

regards

Tim Allan

President

Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce