EMERGENCY repairs to the historic Skippers Bridge  at Langholm will take place overnight from 9pm to 6am on Monday, January 25.

Traffic wishing to use this stretch of the A7 during the planned closure will instead be diverted from Hawick to Canonbie, via the A6088 to the B6357 and on to the B7201, south of Canonbie. Local access will be maintained wherever possible.

A spokesperson for engineers Amey, who will carry out the work to the Category A Listed structure said: "The Cutwaters are intended to mitigate serious damage to the bridge structure, and in this case have done their job well. However, in order to ensure they continue to work effectively it is important to carry out this emergency repair as soon as possible.

"For safety reasons the work requires a total carriageway closure of the A7 carriageway over the bridge, with a signed diversion in place."

With the presence of high voltage cables above the area of the bridge and the need to bring in a crane to access the damaged area of the bridge, Scottish Power has notified local residents about a temporary restriction of the power supply while the work is taking place.

The emergency repair is to ensure the bridge can cope with rising water levels, which have already damaged one of the Cutwaters, and is intended to prevent any further more serious damage to the bridge. A permanent repair to the damaged bridge is still planned for when water levels return to normal.

Although not structural, the cutwaters do protect the pier from turbulence and scour caused by high and fast river flows.

They were damaged during the recent storm and flood events and these repairs are temporary and interim until a permanent repair acceptable to Historic Scotland can be carried out.