Inside Keith - the 'forgotten' Scottish town gripped by temporary traffic light chaos for over a year
A ‘birthday party’ was held by town residents for the temporary traffic lights where they ate cake, sang a dedicated song and went on a march.
Nestled within the heart of Moray, with a population of just under 5,000 people, Keith is affectionately known as the “friendly town”.
However, in recent months, many businesses, including a bakery and pharmacy, as well as residents, have instead dubbed themselves as the “forgotten town”.
The trouble started in July last year, when heavy rain caused a landslide, and damaged Union Bridge - the route used by motorists on the busy A96 Inverness to Aberdeen road. Since then, temporary traffic lights have been in place, reducing the A96 to a single lane, which has had a “devastating impact” on the town, according to locals.
Not only that, now with threats to cut the town’s local library hours by a third as well, as an 126-day road closure on the nearby A95 that started on Saturday, August 23, the people of Keith say they are suffering even more blows.
In July 2024, there were warnings that repairs on the bridge would be a “detailed and complex process”. Amey later announced repairs would get under way in March and be finished in mid-May.
However, when it came to May, the engineering company revealed the schedule for completion of the works had moved to July. But, in another unfortunate twist, the road operator confirmed in a statement that “difficulties” had led to another setback, which led the latest estimate for the completion of the works to be the end of August.
Reasons for delays have included limitations on the number of people and plant equipment on the site, which had been imposed for safety reasons, as well as the discovery of a wastewater chamber not shown on previous site plans.
‘We’ve lost thousands over the year, others are losing thousands a week’
Businesswoman Linda Gorn, who runs the Keith Kilt and Textile Centre and baby shop Wee Scallywags, made a formal complaint to the chief executive of Transport Scotland earlier this month and has been heavily involved in attempting to get answers from Amey.
She said business takings as a social enterprise “drop dramatically” when works are done in the area, to the point they “may have to change direction to survive”.
“We’re a forgotten town,” she said. “They just don’t seem to care.”
The 77-year-old said there had been no talks from Amey regarding monetary compensation to businesses near the traffic lights despite outlets losing thousands a week.
“We have asked for it, [former Moray MP] Douglas Ross has asked for it more than once in Parliament, and the argument is that unless the works are directly outside your business, then there’s no compensation.
“We’ve lost thousands over the year, others are losing thousands a week. We’re all struggling and it just doesn’t go away.”
First Minister and Transport Secretary invited six times to visit Keith
Mr Ross, the local MSP, said between First Minister John Swinney and Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop, he had invited them six times to see the impact of the works. But he said the pair had never visited.
Mr Ross said: “It is frankly ridiculous that these works have taken over a year to get to this stage and we have had so many promises for when they will be completed, all of which have been broken.
“Amey’s actions during these works have been disgraceful. They have repeatedly kept local people in the dark and failed to be upfront about crucial information, which should have been shared when the works first started.
“SNP ministers have also washed their hands off this situation which once again confirms their complete lack of interest in rural Scotland. If this issue had happened in the Central Belt, John Swinney and Fiona Hyslop would have made it a top priority to get resolved.”
Meanwhile, Business Minister Richard Lochhead said he understood the lights had been a cause of frustration for Keith locals and stressed the aim to remove the lights towards the end of this month “can’t come soon enough”.
After talks with Amey’s chief executive, Mr Lochhead secured commitments from the engineering company, which includes them paying for the town’s Christmas lights this year.
Distressed dogs, air pollution and parking issues
Keith resident Louise Hickin, 58, has been living in one of the homes situated on the A96, right next to where the traffic lights have been put up, since 2015.
She said parking was “awkward” as there sometimes was not space and others did not want to let her out, as they were scared the lights would change.
“With cars, buses and lorries constantly sitting out there with their engines running, it’s more noisy than usual,” she said.
“You even have people who recognise their friends in the traffic and stand outside our window talking, which sends our dogs mad.”
Mrs Hickin added: “You can’t have your windows open because of the fumes. It’s not been great. They move the goalposts all the time, but then come across something else that postpones the end date - it just seems never-ending.”
In July, Amey confirmed workers would now be on site during weekends in a late scramble to finish the project. However, residents say they “had never even seen workers on-site during weekdays” until very recently.
Keith musician creates parody song for one year anniversary
After months of frustration over the delays to the removal of the lights, Keith local and owner of The Railway Club pub, Gordon Strathdee, 56, wrote a parody tune based on the hit Living Next Door to Alice, with the chorus going: ‘For 52 weeks, we’ve all been waiting for Amey. Amey, where the **** are Amey?’.
There are now plans for the song, which has his friend George Barbour playing bass guitar, to be released on Spotify.
Mr Strathdee and his friend Davie Rough also decided to organise a “birthday party” in July to commemorate one year of the lights.
A cake was even donated by the local Strathisla Bakery and more than 100 people turned out on the day, starting the party off walking with a banner across the area with the lights while being led by a motorbike.
Figures released by Transport Scotland in June revealed £452,079 had already been spent on the repairs. At the time, an additional £364,094 was expected to be spent before the works were completed. It came with a warning the total is subject to change.
The combined total is £816,173 which is 63 per cent more than the figure published by contractors Amey earlier this year.
The spokesperson said this was due to a “number of issues outside of their control”, which included a major gas leak unconnected to their operations and an uncharted wastewater chamber that had to be carefully removed.
Amey said although the company acknowledged the disruption of the traffic lights, the works were “necessary to restrict the traffic using the bridge to minimise the continued risk to the structure, road and properties nearby”.
“The concrete pour for the wall base and stem commenced this week and once it has cured, we will be in a position to backfill the embankment and excavation before removing the temporary works,” the spokesperson said.
“This will allow the reinstatement of the carriageway surface and removal of the temporary traffic lights towards the end of this month. Further activities will be required on site to complete the works, but this will not impact the trunk road.”
Amey has separately made a donation to the Keith Show to support the Children’s Education Tent. The company will also pay to install the town's festive lighting again this year.
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