Des McNulty MSP

Residents in Old Kilpatrick are sadly familiar with helicopters flying over the village after suicide attempts. In the past, there were cases where people jumped off the bridge and landed in resident’s gardens. The installation of higher fencing on the northern approaches to the bridge in the early 1990s prevented further incidents of that kind but regrettably they have not prevented suicide attempts from the main span of the bridge. Statistics show that the Erskine Bridge has more suicides than any other bridge in Scotland.

As well as recovering the bodies of those who commit suicide, local police also have the job of taking off the bridge people who go there with suicidal intentions. Surely now, in the aftermath of the death of these young girls, the time has come to take action to prevent the bridge being used for suicide attempts.

I know that total prevention is impossible. But surely we could learn from measures taken elsewhere to reduce the incidence of suicide by jumping off a bridge. The most relevant parallel is the Clifton suspension bridge outside Bristol, which like the Erskine Bridge has been a magnet for those contemplating a suicide attempt.

The installation of protective fencing with an overhang to deter people from climbing up it, together with other measures such as increased camera security has significantly reduced the numbers of suicides from the Clifton Bridge. Along with my colleague Trish Godman, who represents West Renfrewshire, I called for similar measures to be introduced on the Erskine Bridge.

Concerns about the number of suicides from the Erskine Bridge have been raised from time to time. But the tragic deaths of these young girls has been  a trigger for more to be done in order to prevent any further avoidable loss of life. Along with Trish Godman, I asked for a meeting with the First Minister which took place on Thursday 3rd December 2009. At the meeting we were shown plans to install protective fencing on the more exposed central span of the bridge which would make it more difficult for people to clamber over.

This fencing will have to be properly tested to make sure it does not put undue strain on the bridge which is very exposed to the wind and also that it will be a effective barrier to people throwing themselves off the bridge. We also asked that CCTV cameras be installed giving a view of the footways over the bridge to improve surveillance and help the police and other rescue services to reach people on the bridge more quickly. If tried and tested solutions that have been proved to work elsewhere can be implemented here, we should move quickly to prevent the loss of more lives.

I am delighted that Old Kilpatrick Community Council took the initiative by organising a public meeting on 23rd November 2009 , at which I was in attendance. Community organisations from other areas in Clydebank have shown their support for getting something done, as have community organisations from Renfrewshire, which helped put more weight behind the case for action Trish and I put before Alex Salmond when we met him. I was able to report back to the Community Council at its meeting on 8th December 2009, indicating that a positive way forward had been identified and that the First Minister had indicated his commitment to ensuring that the necessary works would be undertaken.

Higher barriers and cameras are only part of the solution. We have to deal with the problems faced by young people in care and by others whose personal circumstances lead them to attempt suicide. We need to find ways to identify and help vulnerable people at risk. But we also need to get preventative measures in place on the bridge that make it as difficult as possible for people to commit suicide from it.

The closeness of the bridge means the people of Old Kilpatrick are affected more than any other community in Scotland by suicide attempts. Something needs to be done to change that. It appears that  Trish and I have been able to persuade the Scottish Government in the person of the First Minister to help us towards a solution. Let us hope that these measures can be tested and installed quickly.