Dumfries and Galloway Council has agreed further oversight of its bridges and other structures after an independent engineering review found overdue inspections, gaps in structural assessments and weaknesses in the records used to manage the region’s infrastructure.
At a meeting on Tuesday, 3 November, the council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee considered the findings and agreed that officers must return with progress reports. The authority is responsible for 1,558 structures, including 687 road bridges, along with footbridges, culverts, retaining walls and a weir.
The assessment was carried out by engineering consultancy Jacobs, which examined the authority’s approach to managing structural assets against the Scottish Collaboration of Transportation Specialists asset-management framework and relevant standards. It drew on inspection information extending back to 2017–18.
Jacobs concluded that the council had adopted the principles of the framework and understood its responsibilities as a local roads authority, but was not fully meeting several requirements. The findings identified inspection programmes that had not been completed on time, missing or incomplete structural assessments and weaknesses in long-term maintenance planning, risk management and monitoring of remedial work.
In a more detailed check, the consultants examined a sample of 39 structures and compared their observed condition with council records. Most records gave a reasonable account of condition, but there were significant differences in six cases. Newly developed defects were found at 18 of the sampled structures; four of those had additional defects judged significant.
Those findings apply to the 39 structures inspected by Jacobs and must not be presented as if the same proportions had been found across the council’s entire portfolio. Nor does the review establish that every structure with a significant defect is unsafe or requires immediate closure. The council says the four structures have since been inspected and the identified defects have been included in a repair programme prioritised by risk.
The review also found that the council’s central records system made some inspections and decisions difficult to trace. For a local authority maintaining bridges and culverts across a large rural region, reliable records are a basic part of deciding when structures need reassessment, repair, weight restrictions or other action. The problem is therefore not limited to physical damage: it also concerns how the authority can demonstrate that its inspection and maintenance obligations are being fulfilled.
The council attributes the shortcomings to longstanding resource and staffing shortages, difficulty recruiting and retaining experienced engineers, disruption during the pandemic and unplanned major work, including at Kirkcudbright Bridge. Those explanations help account for the pressures on the service, but do not remove the need to address the shortcomings identified by the independent review.
Remedial work has begun. Additional inspectors are assisting the service, a chartered senior bridge engineer is leading a risk-prioritised programme of structural reviews, and the council is working on improved inspection procedures, staff training and recruitment. The recommendations also include closer attention to erosion around bridge foundations and better use of digital asset records.
The committee agreed that an update should return in February 2027, followed by a further report in June covering progress, staffing, funding and long-term management. That creates a timetable against which councillors and residents can judge whether the authority is closing inspection gaps, improving its records and allocating sufficient resources to the structures on which communities and local businesses depend.
Sources
Council Agrees Next Steps Following Bridges and Structures Review, Dumfries and Galloway Council, 3 November 2026.
Council Publishes Independent Review of Bridges and Structures, Dumfries and Galloway Council, 23 October 2026.
