WHAT IS THE NEWTONHILL & DISTRICT ACCESS COMMITTEE?

Newtonhill and its surrounding villages are blessed to be connected by some beautiful countryside and coastline.

We exist to remove any barriers to local people being easily able to access and enjoy these natural spaces.

Our first objective is to secure a replacement for the bridge over the Elsick Burn that was demolished in November 2023 on safety grounds.

The loss of the bridge makes it harder for some residents to enjoy the walking, riding and wheeling routes in the area – as well as compromising access to a domestic property.

WHAT DO WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE?

The loss of the bridge makes it harder for some residents to enjoy the walking, riding and wheeling routes in the area – as well as compromising access to a domestic property.

People with mobility issues and school children are particularly affected by the need to take a long diversion to get between the village and the beach and other places.

We are working to have a new crossing installed.

Ideally, this would either be a replacement bridge with the same load-bearing capacity to allow deliveries and access to the affected house - or a smaller-scale non-vehicular version combined with other measures to fully re-connect that property.

WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES TO THAT HAPPENING QUICKLY?

Pressures on Aberdeenshire Council’s budget mean it is unable to commit to the estimated £85,000 cost of a like-for-like replacement of the bridge it removed.

It is 21st on the waiting list for a share of very limited funding, with every chance of being leapfrogged if there is future damage to other crossings judged more “critical”.

Of the 1,311 public bridges across our local authority area, almost a quarter show signs of “significant deterioration” and we know that weather events such as Storm Babet – which forced the demolition of our bridge – are becoming more frequent.

In addition, the scoring criteria for council priority only accounts for the impact on the roads network not the downside for walkers, riders, wheelchair users, public health, disabled access and safe routes to school for example.

WHAT DO WE PLAN TO DO?

We are taking two parallel courses of action:

1: Keeping pressure on the Aberdeenshire Council to devise and fully or partially fund a suitable alternative to the access which it removed by demolishing the bridge. A member of the committee has been co-opted to the Newtonhill, Muchalls and Cammachmore Community Council (NMCCC) and is working with its elected members to ensure the local authority understands the urgent need to restore access and acts accordingly. We are conducting polling to show the strength of local feeling. The committee is also engaging constructively with local politicians and officials to try to find cost-effective solutions that could be implemented more quickly.

2: Raising the necessary money to put a new crossing in place, either independently of or in partnership with Aberdeenshire Council. We will do this by running fundraising events and by applying for grants from relevant agencies and charities which support active travel, such as Paths for All. We are consulting with other groups who have succeeded with similar projects elsewhere in the region. To help this part of the campaign, Newtonhill & District Village Association has kindly adopted the committee as a sub-group. Having the formal backing of a well-established registered charity makes it much easier for us to run fundraising events and apply for other funding as well as tapping into the memberships’ extensive understanding of local needs.

HOW CAN I HELP?

There are lots of ways to get involved:

Join our committee: We are a broad coalition of local residents united by a strong desire to replace the bridge and improve local access more generally. We are very open to new faces joining the group and adding skills to our armoury. Meetings and discussions are open at all, relaxed and informal. Watch out for times, venues and other updates here and on our Facebook page

Take part in fundraising events: You will find details on this page of what we are doing to gather the money we need to replace the bridge and re-establish full access for all. We welcome any ideas for new ways to attract sponsorship from individuals or groups or other sources of financial backing.

Fill in our survey: It is important that we can demonstrate widespread support for the bridge campaign in our local communities. Please help by filling in this short questionnaire and encouraging others to do the same.

WHAT NEXT?

We do not plan to be a single-issue group. Once we have succeeded in having a new crossing built over the Elsick Burn, we plan to turn our attention to making sure no-one is denied the easiest possible access to our local surroundings and safe routes between our communities.