Safety fears aired over footbridges

Westfield Community Council chairman Alan Devlin is calling for improvements to be made to two sets of fences at the Red Bridge in Condorrat and the North Road Bridge from Condorrat to St Maurice’s.

He said: “We have been campaigning to get the boards extended a bit.

“There’s huge spaces in the fences on the approach to the bridge and the fences facing on to the motorway.

“All it takes is for a dog, a cat or a child, whatever, to walk through that gap and down to the motorway and it could cause carnage.”

Mr Devlin added: “There’s easily space to climb through the gaps and it actually just acts like a stepladder more than a fence. We’ve been campaigning for months.”

Labour Councillor Bob Chada has also taken the community council’s fight to North Lanarkshire Council in an attempt to have improvements made.

Councillor Chada said: “This matter has been raised with the local authority twice. They said they would ask the contractor and they have said that it meets the standards required.

“There is a gap between the fence and you can just walk your body into that.

“Alan is right in raising that concern as it’s so easy for someone to walk between, but I have raised it with the council and they say it meets the standards required.”

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “The fencing provided for the new M80 motorway is complete and has been constructed to prevent access to the motorway in accordance with standards, including where this fencing meets bridges over the new motorway.

“Where necessary finish-ing and landscaping works require the temporary removal of the permanent fencing, the contractor has used temporary fencing panels to secure the boundary of the motorway fence.”