(S3O-5602) Strategic Transport Projects Review

Strategic Transport Projects Review

3. Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons the Elgin bypass and the trunk link road in Inverness were not deemed to be priorities for inclusion in the strategic transport projects review. (S3O-5602)

The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (Stewart Stevenson):





We have included a link between the A9 and the A96 in the STPR as it delivers national benefits and has a positive investment return. In their present form, proposals for connecting the A82 to the A9 and for a bypass at Elgin provide poor investment returns.

The Government continues to engage the appropriate councils and Highlands and Islands transport partnership on roads issues in Inverness and Elgin. If a positive business case for alternative proposals can be produced, we shall discuss which body should assume responsibility for progressing any project that might follow.

Mary Scanlon: A positive business case was made by HITRANS, which identified significant economic benefits from an Elgin bypass. The First Minister, ministers Richard Lochhead and Fergus Ewing, and local Scottish National Party MSPs all promised the Elgin bypass and the Inverness trunk link road. Will the transport minister admit that those promises were not costed? Will he apologise to the people of Moray and Highland, who were misled?

Stewart Stevenson: The local member, Richard Lochhead, has been assiduous in pursuing the issues associated with the Elgin bypass. He has facilitated a meeting with local interests that will take place shortly; it will be the third meeting that he has had on the subject.

In May 2007, a Scottish transport appraisal guidance report from Moray Council on the Elgin bypass highlighted poor value for money. Similarly, in May 2008, HITRANS and Highlands and Islands Enterprise found that there was a poor case for a bypass. One of the reasons for that, which is unique to Elgin, is that a high proportion of the people travelling to Elgin are not travelling through Elgin but are going there because it is a significant economic centre.

I am confident that we can work with local interests to develop new proposals that can, hopefully, give a return for the investment that would have to be made from the public purse.

Dave Thompson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): Following the welcome confirmation from the Highland Council budget leader, Liberal David Alston, that there is £119 million of council capital and developer contributions in the council's budget for 2009 to 2015, will the minister confirm that there is now no obstacle to the council pressing ahead immediately with the western section of the Inverness trunk link road?

Stewart Stevenson: I very much welcome the endorsement by the new administration in Highland Council of the provision that was made by the previous, SNP administration for the finance for the link road. We have made our substantial contribution to that project by making the link between the A9 and the A96 a national priority. I hope that the Liberal members of Highland Council do not use their policy of cutting infrastructure investment by £800 million a year as an excuse for not making progress.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): I refer to the transport minister's comments to Mary Scanlon. Surely he is not suggesting that local authorities have become responsible for the shortcomings in the trunk road network.

Stewart Stevenson: Traffic in Elgin is divided into through traffic and local traffic—40 per cent of the traffic that goes to Elgin is local traffic. There is a substantial local traffic issue. That is precisely why there is constructive engagement between officials, HITRANS and the council. It is why I welcome the active, energetic support of the local member to ensure that all the complexities of the issue are brought to the fore and form part of the decision making going forward.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): Will the minister confirm that the strategic transport projects review was approved by the Cabinet? Will he further concede, as a matter of principle, that a new line is required for trunk roads through Inverness and around Elgin?

Stewart Stevenson: We are providing a new trunk road at Inverness linking the A96 and the A9, we are making substantial investments in dualling the A96 to the east to Nairn, and we are making substantial investments in the railway to Inverness. In the national projects that it identifies, the STPR makes a once-in-a-lifetime contribution to Inverness.

Further projects will have local significance, and we will continue to work energetically with local interests to ensure that we understand the costs, who has to pay them and the timetable on which the projects can be progressed. We welcome the financial provision from Highland Council for the remaining part that would link the A82 to the A9. I hope that the council sustains its previous commitment on that.