More than a year on, locals are still feeling the effects after the sudden closure of Aboyne Bridge.
The vital link for those living in the area on either side of the River Dee was closed to all traffic on November 22 in 2023, after an “invasive examination” revealed significant concerns.
At the time, locals were worried Aboyne would be “forgotten”, with people heading to Banchory or Ballater instead of making the lengthy diversion.
Others shared concerns that the bridge would be closed for longer than the initial 18 months, and in the meantime, the community pulled together to help each other out.
But in October this year, Aberdeenshire Council confirmed the bridge had “deteriorated significantly” and could no longer carry vehicles.
This month, more than a year on from the original closure, I headed back to Aboyne to find out how the bridge closure affected locals, and if it has been as bad as everyone predicted…
Locals told me:
- Concerns about emergency service response times
- Worries that Dinnet Bridge “could be next” and poor road conditions
- Elderly people without visitors because of the detour
- How the closure has impacted businesses so far, with some considering their future in Aboyne
- And read what Aberdeenshire Council has to say, and the options they’ve outlined for the future of the bridge
Local businessman and on-call firefighter set up action group
My first stop was to chat to Dave Robinson, who set up the Fix Aboyne Bridge Community Action Group.
Dave lives in Birse but works in Aboyne and has been cycling to work ever since the bridge closure.
He is also an on-call firefighter and says if he gets a shout in the night he has to cycle across the bridge to get to the local station, but does admit this is “doable”.
He explained: “One of my main concerns is we’ve got a sleeping risk facility at Praesmhor. We’ve got a lot of infirm old people in a home.
“Previously, we were five minutes away in a fire engine. We’re now 25 minutes away. And my biggest fear is that something like that will come home to roost.
“It is a health and safety disaster for people who live in Birse, from the point of view of emergency services access.
“We didn’t buy houses that were 30 minutes away from a fire station. Some people do, and they accept that when they buy a house. We all bought houses and made our lives in Birse with the hospital right there and the fire station right there.”
Open the bridge to single-file traffic in meantime, says campaigner
Dave said the bridge closure was very sudden, and “arguably unnecessary”.
The day before the closure, he drove the fire engine, which he says weighs 25 tonnes, across the bridge.
While he accepts that the bridge is a complex and unusual structure, and that the council needs money to be able to fix the bridge, he also thinks the communication from the council could have been better.
And, he believes it could be opened up to traffic with restrictions put in place to minimise the disruption.
“Personally, I think single file traffic, weight restricted, could be sorted very quickly,” he explained.
“A minimum amount of remedial work would see the bridge provide some sort of utility. You know, it hasn’t massively affected my life — and I feel really sorry for people who are affected by it.
“Farmers I know are affected by it, older people are not able to get together with their social groups the way they used to.
“I think the biggest impact for me has been feeling helpless, like, why couldn’t this have been sorted sooner?”
‘It’s still inconvenient… but I think people are used to it now’
Alistair Tong has owned Spider on a Bicycle since September 2023 and says it’s still hard to tell how the bridge closure has affected trade.
The businessman, who also owns the Kinker Store and post office in Kincardine O’Neil, has been doing everything he can to draw locals in — from curry and quiz nights to supper clubs.
But, he says the closure has been “frustrating” for a lot of people living on the other side of the bridge, who have had to get used to something different.
He believes a lot of people will go to Banchory or Ballater instead of walking or driving the long way into Aboyne.
“It’s still talked about a lot,” Alistair added. “It is still a significant inconvenience but I think people are more used to it now.
“Are they still upset about it, particularly the folks over the way? Yes, absolutely, because it’s not convenient. But I understand why it’s where it is just now, and that’s not going to be a quick fix. But hopefully, it does get fixed.”
Alistair is the president of the local Rotary Club, and he helped organise the village Christmas tree again this year, and sponsored all the lighting insurance for the village.
But he says the local Laird had to bring the tree from Glen Tanar across to Aboyne via the other bridge.
‘We wouldn’t have chosen this shop if we’d known bridge was going to close’
This has been the second year Kaz Dalby has owned her shop Bark and Ride in Aboyne, and she says if they hadn’t planned so many trade shows and out work into the business online they’d be struggling.
The business owner has also met some of her customers at the bridge with their orders, and she says they are “doing everything we can” to help.
She added that next year will be a time for decisions regarding the shop’s future in Aboyne.
“It’s always going to be tough for small businesses,” Kaz explained. “We just have to carry on and stay as positive as we can.
“We still absolutely love doing what we do here, there’s a fantastic community around us, and we’ll do all we can to continue being based in Aboyne.
“But we certainly wouldn’t have chosen this particular shop if we’d known that the bridge was going to close.”
Kaz also pointed out that the Post Office on the Square is relocating to the Coop, which she believes is another blow to the area because people won’t need to come into the village as often.
And she’s noticed less tourists are coming to the area.
“Aboyne isn’t quite as vibrant as it used to be,” she added. But the mountain biking community and the dog community certainly still is. It’s sad that it’s such a beautiful village, and so much more could be done.
“But if the council isn’t willing to get on board with any support for these businesses, then the future of Aboyne will certainly be a lot more bleaker than I ever imagined it to be.”
Concerns for Dinnet Bridge and poor road conditions
Many residents have expressed concerns about the “at-risk” Dinnet Bridge, which is where the traffic diverted from Aboyne and Birse is now going.
The bridge has been reduced to single-file, with weight restrictions, to cope with traffic.
Julie Strachan, co-director of Strachan’s of Royal Deeside, said she fears Dinnet Bridge “will be the next one” to close.
She said: “The thing is, the council is just not going quick enough, because Aboyne is a major bridge.
“If all the other cars are using Dinnet, there’s more traffic going over it and that’ll be the next one.
“Rather than sitting and discussing it in an office, they do something about it.”
Julie has spoken to some people who will only come to Aboyne once a week because of the long journey and knows other who have given up jobs because they can’t afford to pay the extra money on fuel.
She said they’ve offered to drop shopping off at the bridge, or even to meet people at the bridge and give them a lift to their dentist or doctor appointments.
While the closure hasn’t affected her business too much, she does think a lot of people now just go to Banchory instead.
“If the roads are bad, people won’t go that far,” she explained. “Of course, people can get their shopping online too, so there will be a lot of people doing that.”
People head to Banchory and Ballater instead
Nicola Gardyne, who owns Monkey Business, says she sees a lot less of her customers who live on the other side of the bridge now because it’s so difficult to get into the village.
She says most people would pop in past her children’s shop while in Aboyne, but now she thinks a lot of people are just going to Banchory or Ballater instead of taking the detour.
And, the festive period should be the busiest time for retailers, but Nicola says it’s not been “mega busy”, with the bridge closure just adding “extra stress”.
Nicola also feels sorry for the people across the bridge, because she’s heard the closure is impacting a lot of them personally. She knows of one 90-year-old lady who moved to Praesmhor and hasn’t had many visitors because her friends can’t make it over the bridge.
Like many of the other locals, Nicola is worried there’s going to be a fatality because the emergency services can’t get across the bridge.
She said: “There’s vulnerable people at Praesmhor, there’s an elderly population over there, and the emergency services are having to take a detour to get to them.
“It’s not going to be long before somebody’s not got there in time.”
‘I can’t push people to come here’
Thistle and Clay owner Mairi MacDonald says she doesn’t know how much progress has been made, and that people have been adjusting to the closure.
But sadly, she believes that means they now go elsewhere.
One of her customers based in Birse said that it used to take her seven minutes to drive to Aboyne, but it now takes 25 minutes, meaning she doesn’t come into the village very often.
“With that massive detour around I can’t push people to come here,” she explained with a sigh. “I’m an eco-conscious company, I’m not going to say do that 25-minute drive instead of that seven-minute drive that you used to do.”
Mairi says she knows more people on the other side of the bridge who are “suffering”, and she feels fortunate to live in Aboyne because the cost just to come to work would be double.
“I just wish they’d do something about it,” she finished. “I think we really just need a new bridge if it’s not going to be usable, because it’s been quite a long time now.”
Bridge is ‘treacherous’ to walk over in winter
Gayl Truby, who owns the Deeside Re-Fill at Station Square, says she knows a lot of people who just go to Banchory or Ballater instead.
But, she believes people still make the effort to come to her zero-waste shop, because there are no other refill shops in the area.
So, she admits the closure hasn’t been “as bad” as she thought it would be for her business, but she knows there are a lot of people who can’t walk over the bridge or make the detour.
“We’ve had sub-zero temperatures all week,” she added. “I know there’s been issues for people coming across the bridge on foot, that it’s not been gritted or treated.
“So it’s a bit treacherous, and it seems it’s just been forgotten.”
Gayl also said the issue is that there’s no real “time limit” for when the vital link could be fixed or reopened.
And while the information has been “slow to come”, she does think it has been well documented and the Facebook action group keeps her up to date.
Residents of 20 years say bridge closure a ‘big carry on’
Donald and Ann Keenan have lived in Birse for 20 years, and the couple says the “not knowing” what could happen is frustrating.
“Well we’re retired,” Ann explained. “So it doesn’t affect us, it’s just inconvenient. We can walk, and we can cycle, but it’s more for the people who are working and for deliveries.
“It’s a big carry on.”
Donald added: “Some of our friends look after their grandkids here, and now they’ve got to take them to school and now they’ve got a 25-mile round trip to drop them off and pick them up.”
But the couple both thought the bridge would have been reopened to a single lane of traffic with traffic lights.
And they agree it’s a shame for the village and the people trying to run businesses in Aboyne.
What does Aberdeenshire Council and fire service say?
In regards to concerns about emergency service response times, local station manager Kenny Collie reassured the public that the safety of communities and firefighters “is always our priority”.
He added: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is committed to attending every emergency and we will always mobilise the nearest available appliance to an incident using our standard mobilisation practices.”
Aberdeenshire Council has announced there will be two community drop-in sessions in January to discuss the five possible options for the future of Aboyne Bridge.
The options the council is looking into are:
- Option one: No work undertaken
- Option two: Limited strengthening and repair (estimated to cost £1.5-£3m). This is the council’s preferred option
- Option three: Full strengthening and repair (estimated to cost £10-£15m)
- Option four: Construction of a single lane modular structure next to the existing bridge (estimated to cost £5-8m)
- Option five: Construction of a permanent replacement bridge (estimated to cost £30m)
Philip McKay, head of roads and infrastructure, said: “We are very pleased to now have this detailed options appraisal for consideration. Each of the options has its advantages and disadvantages, with costs, timescales, and the long-term use of the bridge all being key factors in our decision-making.
“While our preferred option is for repair and strengthening of the bridge to allow for the return of most traffic, we are very keen to hear views from the community around each of the possible solutions.”
The public consultations will be held on:
- Tuesday, January 14, at Aboyne Community Centre, between 10am and 4pm
- Tuesday, January 21, at Birse Hall, between 10am and 4pm
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