Edinburgh City Bypass (Upgrade Plans)

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 10 December 2020.

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Photo of Miles Briggs Miles Briggs Conservative

3. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to upgrade the Edinburgh city bypass. (S5O-04843)

Photo of Michael Matheson Michael Matheson Scottish National Party

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering improvements to the Sheriffhall junction on the A720 as part of the Edinburgh and south-east Scotland city region deal. Transport Scotland is working to progress resolution of objections to the scheme, and is taking forward the statutory processes that are required to enable its delivery. Any further enhancements to the A720 are for consideration in the second strategic transport projects review, which will report its second phase in autumn 2021.

Photo of Miles Briggs Miles Briggs Conservative

The Sheriffhall junction redevelopment is only one piece of the jigsaw to improve traffic flow on the city bypass. Given that the transport secretary has written to me to say that there are no current plans by the Scottish Government to undertake a feasibility study on widening the city bypass, what action will the Scottish Government take to reduce congestion on all of the city bypass, especially considering that the projected population growth in the south-east of Scotland over the next 20 years is so considerable?

Photo of Michael Matheson Michael Matheson Scottish National Party

Any transport interventions of a strategic nature need to be taken forward on a planned basis, which is why the STPR process looks not only at national priorities, but at regional priorities, including within the Edinburgh area. Miles Briggs will be aware that a study has already been undertaken of potential transport priorities for the Edinburgh area. Any decision on future strategic investments in those areas will be part of the STPR2 process.

It is extremely important that we ensure that the approach that we take to investing in transport is not just about expanding existing capacity, but is also about managing demand, which we need to do to ensure that we can meet the objectives that Parliament has set as part of our climate change legislation. That means also looking at how we can manage demand by reducing car use and mileage as a key part of our strategy to meet our climate change targets.