Inverness Infirmary Bridge repairs postponed due to budget hole caused by urgent work on Rose Street multi-storey car park, Highland Council confirms
Vital repairs to keep an Inverness bridge open to the public have been delayed by a year after urgent structural work to a multi-storey car park left a hole in the council budget.
The Infirmary Bridge, a heavily-used Victorian pedestrian crossing over the River Ness, is needing more than half-a-million pounds worth of repairs to keep it open.
The bridge is repeatedly closed temporarily as a safety precaution during major riverside events due to weight restrictions, as the structure is not strong enough to support large numbers of people at once. It is also understood that it is nearing the end of its projected lifespan, having carried pedestrians across the river for more than 140 years.
Repair and maintenance work costing £535,000 was expected to get under way on the bridge in the current financial year which would have extended its operational life further.
But it was revealed this week that the date for the repairs has now slipped back to the 2025/26 financial year after unexpected urgent repairs needed on the Rose Street multi-storey car park meant there was not enough money left over in the current budget.
The news emerged at the latest meeting of Highland Council’s economy and infrastructure committee on Thursday.
Speaking during discussions about a report on planned work on numerous bridges around the local authority area, Cllr Alasdair Christie raised the issue of repairs on the Infirmary Bridge.
The Inverness Ness-side councillor said: “[Im seeking] some clarity around the Infirmary Bridge which is obviously just a pedestrian bridge, but obviously very well used - especially for some large events that are on - [and it is] closed for many of the large events we have had.
“In the report it talks about work commencing in 2024/25 and then in the narrative it talks about 25/26 and I'm just unclear about when the remedial work will start. And is there any provision for a replacement bridge in the capital programme as I couldn't see any? It looks to just be repairs.
“Are we saying we are going to repair something knowing that it only has a particular shelf life and we've got no provision from the administration in the capital programme to actually replace the bridge?”
Responding, a council officer confirmed that Rose Street multi-storey car park’s urgent need for repairs was one of the factors behind the delay. Around 200 parking bays in the multi-storey are currently cordoned off after inspections uncovered damage to numerous structural support pillars.
The council officer said: ”Yes, Infirmary Bridge, there is £535,000 in our major bridges in our capital programme allocated to Infirmary [Bridge]. This is not enough to replace the structure. This is just to carry out basic repairs to keep it going towards the end of its life and the medium/long-term solution is still that the bridge will actually need replacing.”
He continued: “Our repair works have slipped. We had hoped to do them this year but our resources have been diverted elsewhere. For example the Rose Street car park. But we are still hoping that this will still be progressed now next year, the Infirmary Bridge.
Inverness South ward member Cllr Duncan Macpherson, meanwhile, questioned whether it might make more financial sense to build a replacement rather than spending half-a-million pounds on repairs “every 10 to 12 years”. He cited work to replace a similar suspension bridge in Lossiemouth which he understood cost around £1.1m or £1.2m. And he asked if it would not make more sense to build a brand new replacement in the same style as the existing one “that would last another 100 years”.
Responding, committee chairman Cllr Ken Gowans (Inverness South) said he believed those sorts of figures were only ad-hoc and that it would likely be "considerably more than that" to build a replacement when full costs were drawn up. He also stressed that there was no funding for a replacement in the current capital budget.
