NETWORK Rail has moved to allay fears that its multi-million-pound plans for the Forth Bridge will turn North Queensferry into “Disneyland on the Forth”.

The railway network authority wants to build a visitor centre, with a panoramic lift and viewing platform on the North Queensferry side, but a group of residents fear it will turn their village into “not quite hell but close to it”.

Last week, the Press told you about protest group Hands Off North Queensferry’s (HONQ) opposition to the building of additional structures on the iconic bridge and their concerns over the village being “inundated” by an expected 300,000 extra tourists each year.

The bridge celebrates its milestone 125th anniversary in 2015 and is on track to be awarded coveted UNESCO World Heritage Site status, with a decision due next summer. While not against World Heritage status, HONQ called Network Rail’s plans a “timebomb”, with founder member Peter Dean questioning the proposal’s “considerable uncertainty”.

However, Network Rail put out assurances over the proposals this week.

Senior communications manager Craig Bowman explained, “Contrary to Mr Dean’s assertions, we have an approach of developing proposals which are entirely reversible, can be delivered with a ‘light touch’ and which have the minimum impact on the profile of the bridge.

“Again, contrary to Mr Dean’s comments, there is a mention of a visitor centre proposal within the World Heritage application and we believe that it will help to support the potential educational and economic benefits which a World Heritage listing could bring.” Mr Bowman stressed that Network Rail had been “completely open” with UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

He added, “We have had no indication that our proposals will harm the World Heritage application.

“On the contrary, we believe that we can help to further enhance the appreciation of the bridge’s ‘outstanding universal value’, which is the key factor for the ICOMOS/UNESCO decision.” Mr Bowman said Network Rail was in the process of appointing a designer to develop its feasibility study into a “workable, buildable solution”.

He added, “We are in an enviable position in that the main attraction is already there – we simply want to provide a method with which people can visit, appreciate and understand the structure better than they have been able to before now.

“We have seen from history that off-site museums don’t work – the best way to appreciate the bridge is by visiting it.

“While we acknowledge that we need to get our transport strategy right, we firmly believe that our proposals offer a huge potential benefit for the local area.”