A9 dualling call to tackle the deadliest sections is rejected by Scottish Government as SNP MSP Fergus Ewing brands new report ‘no more than a sham’
The Scottish Government has rejected calls to accelerate or reschedule sections of the A9 dualling to tackle deadly sections first meaning there is now little scope for seeing fast improvements on the worst sections that claim the most lives.
Less than 48 hours before Holyrood’s first ever debate on the A9 and just a few days after a formal statement from Transport Scotland indicated that the prospect of rescheduling was still on the cards, transport secretary Fiona Hyslop this evening confirmed it was not.
It came after the SNP failed to meet it’s manifesto pledge to fully dual the Inverness-Perth section by this year.
Transport Scotland then looked into the matter – something Mr Swinney said he would be open to when he signed the Inverness Courier Dual the A9 Pledge – last summer.
What a difference a five days makes
The government’s response to the A9 dualling probe arrived on Thursday evening when Ms Hyslop said: “Transport Scotland is in the process of considering requests to reschedule and/or accelerate completion of the A9 dualling programme,” adding its findings will be released when “this work is complete”.
Now the report has been completed and the findings take rescheduling or acceleration off the table because, as Ms Hyslop said, it would “negatively impact procurement, construction, supply chains and increase disruption for road users”.
“Acceleration would also likely risk price increases, due to increased competition for resources,” she added.
In fact, the report “recommends that the current schedule for the delivery plan be maintained, as it achieves overall completion of the dualling programme earlier than could be achieved if works were rescheduled”.
Ms Hyslop said: “This report considers proposals that the delivery plan for the A9 dualling programme be rescheduled and/or accelerated.
“That plan was developed to balance market capacity, impacts on road users and challenging financial constraints and it provides much-needed certainty for road users, local communities and the construction industry on when works all along the A9 are expected.
“I appreciate that there are a range of views on how completion of the dualling programme should be achieved.”
“A purely desktop exercise: No more than a sham”
Inverness and Nairn SNP MSP Fergus Ewing was quick to call the development “deeply disappointing”.
He said: “This follows a deputation led by me to the First Minister in June last year, where we urged him to speed up the completion and re-sequence the order of work too.
“This was at a meeting with both him and cabinet secretary Fiona Hyslop, with representatives from all parties represented in Holyrood, other than the Greens who are against dualling, and senior Transport Scotland officials attending.
“What is extraordinary about this response, is that my own inquiries suggest that Transport Scotland have not gone out to industry to seek their views in any systematic way.
“I have made my own inquiries on this and have no indication of what ‘engagement’ there was - did they have any meaningful discussions with industry? Did they not even hold a ‘market day’ where major contractors would be invited to contribute their views?
“It looks to me as if they failed to do this, despite the absolute necessity of working collaboratively with industry. This has all the hallmarks of a purely desktop exercise: No more than a sham.”
