Renfrewshire Labour is calling for a special full council meeting to get to the bottom of two things that went wrong in Renfrew during Storm Boelo: why the town's flood barriers weren't raised, and how water managed to damage Renfrew Bridge badly enough to close it to traffic for months.
The council confirmed on Wednesday that water got into one of the plant rooms that runs the swing bridge. The Renfrew-side plant room took the worst of it, and its electronic systems were badly damaged. The crossing will stay shut to road users while investigations and repairs are carried out.
"Reasonable questions"
Councillor Iain McMillan, who leads the Labour group, said people already dealing with flooded homes and businesses would be shocked that a key part of such an expensive bridge had been put out of action by water. He put the cost of the crossing at £117 million, with £76 million of that coming from Renfrewshire Council.
"An obvious question is why a critical plant room appears to have been vulnerable to flooding in the first place," he said. "Was it located in an area at risk of flooding? What flood protection measures were designed into the project? Did this event exceed the conditions the bridge was designed to withstand, or has a significant design weakness been exposed? These are reasonable questions that taxpayers will expect to be answered."
The group wants to see the flood risk assessments carried out when the bridge was designed, and to know how resilient the plant room was meant to be. It is also asking what the repairs will cost and whether warranties, insurance or the contractors could cover any of the bill.
Cllr McMillan said getting the bridge back open has to come first. "The bridge has quickly become an important transport link for residents, commuters and businesses," he said. "Everyone will want to see the bridge operational again as soon as possible. At the same time, there must be complete transparency about what has happened."
The flood barriers
Labour also wants the meeting to look at the flood barriers on Ferry Road. They were built as part of the £10 million North Renfrew Flood Prevention Scheme but weren't put up on the Saturday night of the storm, when the Clyde came over its banks and flooded streets, homes and businesses.
The council has said the forecast tide levels didn't reach the point where the barriers would normally go up. It says the surge at Renfrew reached 6.7 metres, the highest since digital records began in 1998 and more than twice what was forecast. Officers have agreed to review how decisions on raising the barriers are made so that they reflect a changing climate.
What happens now
The council says urgent investigations are under way to find out what caused the damage to the bridge and to get it fully working again as quickly as possible. In the meantime, temporary measures mean the swing bridge can still open for scheduled vessels.
Renfrew Bridge opened in May 2025 and links Renfrew with Yoker and Clydebank on the north bank of the Clyde. It isn't yet clear whether, or when, a special meeting will be held. We'll report on what happens next.
Image: The new Renfrew Bridge. Photo: Gordon Brown, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (geograph.org.uk 8060579).