Protecting and Restoring Scotland's Rural Bridges

That the Parliament recognises that bridges play an essential role in allowing communities to thrive throughout rural Scotland, including many in the North East region; notes that bridges support local economies and provide access to work, education, healthcare and emergency services to tens of thousands of people living in rural communities; highlights the disproportionate impact of bridge maintenance costs on rural councils; believes that the Scottish Government’s decision not to renew the Local Bridges Maintenance Fund in 2023 has placed additional pressure on rural councils to fund bridge maintenance; considers that this decision has effectively forced councils to prioritise maintenance of lifeline routes over restoring full capacity, which, it believes, has led to the managed decline of the rural road network; recognises the particular impact that bridge closures can have on rural areas and the communities that use them, including villages such as Birse, Birsemore and Aboyne, whose residents have faced more than two years of isolation from vital social and statutory services, and recognises what it sees as the need to protect and restore Scotland's rural bridges.