top of page
Writer's pictureSafer Highways

Scottish Greens call for NO new road upgrades despite dangerous A9


Highlands MSP Ariane Burgess also called for no more Scottish Government investment in road upgrades despite her constituents urging for the A9 between Inverness and Perth to be dualled.


A Scottish Greens MSP was heckled at Holyrood after calling for NO new road upgrades in Scotland, despite representing a community which has been crying out for one. Highlands MSP Ariane Burgess called on public transport improvements instead.


And her colleague Maggie Chapman even suggested that "road building is a subsidy for wealthy, usually white men who are the main beneficiaries of reducing journey times between cities."


The Scottish Tories brought in a debate about the current poor state of roads across the country, including the pothole scarred city routes. They blamed "17 years of SNP neglect, underfunding and broken promises" for this situation, which includes the A9 dualling being delayed by a decade.


When in the Scottish Government, the Greens were blamed for various delays on the A9 and also the A96, with the SNP repeatedly denying the Bute House Agreement was the reason \for this. But the mask slipped on Wednesday as Ms Burgess ranted about the need to save money and not upgrade the roads.


She represents the Highlands, with the majority of Scots there backing the dualling between the region and Perth after a series of high profile deaths. Despite this, she still called for no more investment into the £3.7bn project.


Ms Burgess said: "Too often our transport plans seem to start and end with road upgrades and expansions rather than looking at all the transport options that we need to invest in from buses to bikes, rail and ferries. The Scottish Government has committed to reducing care kilometres by 20% by 2030 a target that aligns with our legally binding climate commitments.


"However, the proposed road upgrades and expansions such as the full duelling of the A9 and A96 directly contradict this. Building more and bigger roads will only encourage increased car usage, generate more greenhouse gas emissions and undermine our efforts to combat climate change.


"Over the past decade, the Scottish Government has spent £4bn on road building projects, with ongoing or planned projects estimated to cost at least £7bn. Shockingly, the average completion costs of these projects has escalated by 86%. This is a poor use of taxpayer money and a misguided approach to addressing our transportation need.


"Instead of investing billions in high carbon new road infrastructure, we should redirect these funds towards sustainable alternatives that benefit all of Scotland's residents."


Her comments led to heckling from veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing who has been a firm advocate of dualling the A9.


Scottish Tory shadow transport minister Graham Simpson accused the Nats of having "contempt for those who live in rural Scotland." He pointed out that there were "144 deaths on Scotland’s major trunk roads that go outside the Central Belt between 2020 and 2023 – and 104 of those were on sections that were not dualled."


He said: "Our local roads are dangerously scarred by potholes due to years of the SNP Government starving our councils of cash. The crisis is so bad that an analysis of 69 British cities, found Glasgow was the worst, followed by Edinburgh."

59 views0 comments

Komentar


Recent Blog Posts

NEWS AND UPDATES

bottom of page