£25m bill to bring Fife’s substandard bridges up to scratch, report reveals

Figures from the RAC Foundation show that of the 397 bridges in the region, 48 were substandard last year.

That means they are either too weak to carry 40-tonne vehicles or there is a weight restriction for environmental reasons such as a narrow bridge or narrow approach roads.

Fife Council estimated it would cost £24.2 million to bring the road bridges back to good condition.

It said it would ideally restore 47 bridges to full capacity - but only foresees seven returning to good condition in the next five years.

Across Great Britain, councils said 3090 bridges were substandard – accounting for 4.3% of the total 71,925 bridges. It was down slightly from 3,211 substandard bridges reported the year before (4.5%).

The estimated one-time cost to clear the maintenance backlog across the nations was £5.9 billion.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said the figures reveal the challenge facing local authorities.

"The numbers illustrate how important it is for significant sums of money to be spent tackling at least the higher priority work," Gooding added. "Whether it is potholes or bridges there is only so long that councils can continue to patch things up before bigger cracks literally start to appear in the road network."

David Renard, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association said: “Not all bridges are the responsibility of councils, but for those that are, they are doing their best to ensure they are well maintained and withstand extreme weather.”