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Road and Rail Transport (Highlands)

Question Time — Scottish Executive — General Questions – in the Scottish Parliament at 11:40 am on 29 March 2007.

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Photo of Fergus Ewing Fergus Ewing Scottish National Party 11:40, 29 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that, over this session of the Parliament, a fair share of funding has been allocated to road and rail projects connecting the Highlands to the central belt that have been delivered, or are planned to be delivered by 2012, and which projects have been or are planned to be delivered. (S2O-12491)

Photo of Tavish Scott Tavish Scott Liberal Democrat

In our current roads programme to 2012, we are delivering improvements of £50 million on the A9, more than £30 million on the A96, £16 million on the A82 and £19 million on the A830. Those figures do not take into account the significant levels of annual repair and maintenance works on the trunk road network throughout the Highlands. In addition to the current investment of more than £115 million, work is now proceeding on the A9 from Perth to Blair Atholl, on the A82 from Tarbet to Fort William and on the dualling of the A96 from Inverness to Inverness airport.

We are delivering an extensive and comprehensive multimillion pound package to provide the strategic investment in road and rail that is required to meet the needs of communities and businesses in the Highlands. We have set out in "Scotland's Railways" our aspirations for faster hourly train services between Perth and Inverness. Scottish Ministers are committed to ensuring that all our rural communities receive investment based on geographical diversity and a fair and rational analysis of need.

Photo of Fergus Ewing Fergus Ewing Scottish National Party

Does the Minister consider that it has been a great disappointment to people in the Highlands that, over the past eight years, there has been no single major improvement to the A82, the A96, the A9 or rail links; that Inverness, alone among Scotland's major cities, lacks dual-carriageway links to the rest of Scotland; and that it has only single-track rail links? Does not he feel that the Scottish Executive really must, in the next session, do a great deal better for the people of the Highlands?

Photo of Tavish Scott Tavish Scott Liberal Democrat

I do not agree with Mr Ewing's analysis. I do not think that the £115 million that we are investing in our road network is to be blithely ignored, as he thinks. Mr Ewing would have some shred of credibility if he did not spend his time in this chamber saying that he would cancel projects in order to invest in the immediate dualling of roads in the Highlands while also saying that they might not be dualled tomorrow, but some time in the future. To be credible, one has to have a policy—Mr Ewing does not have a policy. The Scottish National Party's sums do not add up. I will point that out every day of the coming campaign.

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