TWO councils have clashed over naming the first new bridge across the River Forth in 70 years.
Clackmannanshire and Fife are both vying to bestow the title on the second crossing at Kincardine.
Fife Council wants it to be called Kingdom Bridge but Clackmannanshire councillors are campaigning for it to be named after their authority.
The GBP120m bridge across the Forth is being built to relieve congestion for road users. Traffic heading for Fife will use the original Kincardine Bridge while vehicles going to Clackmannanshire will use the new crossing, due to be completed in 2008.
Clackmannanshire Council said Clackmannanshire Bridge should be favoured as travellers are greeted with beautiful views of the area. But Fife Council said it should be named Kingdom Bridge as Kincardine is in Fife.
Both local authorities said the bridge would benefit their economies. Fife Council is now writing to First Minister Jack McConnell to recommend its choice be approved.
Anne McGovern, leader of Fife Council, said: "Kincardine is in Fife. The bridge is in Fife and it is going to make a huge difference to the local environment and economy of Fife. I therefore wholeheartedly support the motion its name should ref lect this strong link."
William Ferguson, Fife's councillor for Kincardine, Culross and LowValleyfield, said: "Local people fought long and hard for this bridge and it is a fitting tribute to their determination and foresight that it is now being built."
On the other side, a letter to Fife Council, signed by senior Clackmannanshire councillors, stated: "While undoubtedly the new bridge will make a huge difference to Kincardine, our hopes and ambitions for the bridge are far higher.
"It will be a godsend to Clackmannanshire. Our infrastructure difficulties are well known to councillors in Fife but the bridge could be the making of our small county."
The Scottish Executive will have the final say on the title.
The scheme will also create almost nine miles of trunk road, side road and cycle pathways, allowing traffic to bypass Kincardine. Around 16,500 vehicles passing through the village each day and this is estimated to drop to 2800 when the crossing is completed.
Meanwhile, early findings from reports commissioned by Labour indicate a replacement crossing is required for the Forth Road Bridge.
A Scottish Executive spokesman said last night: "The Transport Ministerwas briefed this week on the emerging findings of work he initiated on the Firth of Forth crossing.
"The First Minister has therefore asked for a report to be brought to cabinet. This will cover the new information on options for a replacement crossing, an up-to-date technical assessment on the existing bridge and the further work on financing a replacement crossing."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article