Falkirk Council: Work at Champany junction accident blackspot will go ahead as £2.7m 'found' in budget

It was hoped that cash to upgrade the Champany Junction would come from the UK Government’s Levelling Up fund but a joint bid with West Lothian Council for that work was not successful.

On Wednesday, at Falkirk Council’s annual meeting to set the budget for the year ahead councillors agreed to fund the Champany improvements.

Design work for the junction is now underway and Falkirk Council’s director of place Malcolm Bennie told councillors – who were unhappy at the delay – that the project is a priority and will be delivered as quickly as possible.

Councillors also agreed to fund an extra £700,000 for the Denny Eastern Access Road – a long-awaited road that will bypass Denny Cross in order to ease congestion. The project has taken much longer than anticipated due to a protracted compulsory purchase order process.

Members heard that the council’s capital grant from the Scottish Government – which funds infrastructure projects – had not increased this year. That meant, with high inflation affecting construction projects, the council’s capital budget is under growing pressure and councillors were warned that any new projects would need to replace ones that already had funding approved.

Councillors agreed to take £3.7 million that has been earmarked for a new intermediate care facility for the health and social care partnership.

Members heard that the money had been set aside ten years ago but there was still no approved plan in place and the cash is now highly unlikely to cover the project.

Councillors agreed to officers’ recommendations to reallocate this money to fund the Champany Junction at £2.7 million, Denny Eastern Access Road at £0.7 million and ICT projects that will cost £0.327 million.

SNP councillor Paul Garner said he was hopeful that this will finally mean work can start on the long-awaited Denny Eastern Access Road. Commercial tenders are now expected by the end of March, although he admitted “there have been a few false starts.”

“Like some other projects, this has taken far too long to get to this stage but this will improve the journeys of many road users, save time, increase safety, reduce pollution of static vehicles and be welcomed by many,” said Councillor Garner.

Independent councillor Brian McCabe said that cutting the funding for the intermediate care facility was a “disgrace.” He said: “I feel it’s damning – saying we will defund the project after ten years but saying we are ‘fully supportive of the development of intermediate care’ is embarrassing.”

Mr Binnie said it was important to note that there is no immediate proposal for an intermediate care facility that needs funding. As soon as a business case is developed it will return to councillors for a decision.

The council leader, Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, said she wanted to highlight the money that was being spent across the district through the capital programme.

She highlighted spending in several areas this year: £4 million improvements in the roads network; £3 million to progress the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme; £1.5 million on Maddiston Primary’s extention; £1.4 on general improvements to schools; £1.1 million on new cycle and footpaths; and £1 million on new green council vehicles.

Other projects include £900,000 on energy efficiency improvements for council buildings, while she also welcomed £500,000 that will be spent on Changing Places toilets and £300,000 for upgraded playparks.

Councillor Meiklejohn said: “Times may be tough but there are still significant levels of investment across the district and we continue to chase external funds to help us deliver on our and our communities’ priorities.”