The Scottish Conservatives have today warned the SNP not to “cave in” to the Greens by cutting spending on upgrades to Scotland’s road network in Thursday’s budget.
Scotland’s trunk road network is in desperate need of improvement and dualling the A9 and A96 is essential and long overdue.
But the Scottish Conservatives fear the Scottish Greens’ ideological opposition to investing in roads will see the SNP dragged to the extremist position of their Coalition of Chaos partners.
The Party are warning that any back-tracking by the SNP on previous commitments to upgrade the network would leave some stretches of roads unsafe. It would also harm Scotland’s economy, by deterring investors, and leave rural communities feeling cut off.
Last month in parliament, the Scottish Conservatives warned of the dangers of not investing properly in Scotland’s roads, but the Party’s motion was opposed by the SNP and Scottish Greens.
Now Shadow Cabinet Finance and Economy Secretary Liz Smith is demanding that the SNP’s budget contains a commitment to delivering the £2.2billion previously allocated to upgrading and maintaining Scotland’s major roads.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy Liz Smith said: “The choice for the SNP is simple: stick up for Scotland’s motorists or cave in to their Green coalition partners.
“Large sections of Scotland’s road network have been neglected by the SNP for years, risking the safety of drivers and putting off potential investors in our economy.
“It’s time the SNP finally made good on previous pledges to carry out these essential upgrades.
“Kate Forbes will not be forgiven if she bows to the extremists Greens.”
Notes:
The draft Shared Policy Programme calls for a freezing of funds on new road projects. Specifically the programme says ‘We agree that in the face of the climate emergency we need to shift away from spending money on new road projects that encourage more people to drive, and instead focus our money and effort on maintaining roads, improving safety and providing a realistic and affordable alternative through investing in public transport and active travel.’ ‘During this parliamentary session, new roads projects will normally only be taken forward where they reduce the maintenance backlog; address road safety concerns or adapt the network to deal with the impacts of climate change or benefit communities such as bypassing settlements’. ‘We will not build road infrastructure to cater for forecast unconstrained increases in traffic volumes.’ (WORKING TOGETHER TO BUILD A GREENER, FAIRER, INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND, The Scottish Government, 20 August 2021, p.9, p.10 link).
Nicola Sturgeon failed to confirm whether the A9’s 2025 finish date will be met. At an FMQ session in March 2021 she told Conservative rural economy spokesperson Jamie Halcro Johnston it would be ‘progressed as quickly as possible’ but did not state if the 2025 deadline would be met (The Scotsman, 6 March 2021, link).
The SNP snubbed a major road upgrade fund from Westminster. A spokesperson for Scottish Transport minister Graeme Dey said: ‘Transport is devolved to Holyrood and the Tories should respect that, instead of engaging in a power grab which has seen them promise much, but deliver little in reality.’ This indicates that the SNP Government has put politics above the needs of rural communities. (Daily Business, 24 August 2021, link).
The Greens have constantly criticised new road projects. Lorna Slater criticised the UK Government for expanding roads by saying ‘When you look at the approach the UK Government is taking to things like oil and gas extraction and expanding roads and airports, I think independence is crucial to tackling the climate crisis in Scotland.’ Mark Ruskell, the Environment, Climate and Transport, spokesperson for the Greens criticised the Scottish Conservative motion on road improvements. He said ‘As evident in the co-operation deal between Greens in government and the just-published national planning framework, the days of endless 1960s-style road expansions are over.’ (Holyrood, 6 September 2021, link), ’ (Press and Journal, 16 November 2021, link).
Rural Scotland needs road infrastructure. Councils have expressed concern over the lack of investment in key transport infrastructure, poor resilience on strategic transport arteries and disproportionate journey times between key settlements and the Central Belt. This has constrained opportunities to grow the local economy in some rural areas and contributed to a drift of population from some remote and island communities. (Highways, 8 October 2019, link).
Multi-agency partners have stressed the importance of dualling of the A9 and A96 to the Highland economy and safety. The Highlands’ economic recovery, prosperity and green future is heavily dependent on connectivity. The dualling of both roads is also crucial in terms of public safety. Many of the serious road traffic collisions on both roads have taken place on single carriageway sections, which are open to the various road safety issues, including risks of dangerous overtaking or confusion. (The Highland Council, 16 August 2021, link).