‘Lives are being put at risk’ - MSPs back petition calling for a timeline on Nairn Bypass and A96 dualling
More Highland MSPs have backed the Inverness Courier’s petition asking for a timeline for the Nairn Bypass and A96 dualling to be delivered by the end of 2024.
This comes after the SNP have agreed to deliver a statement on the A96 development this Thursday in Holyrood.
Highlands and Islands MSP Douglas Ross, who backed the petition during a parliamentary session earlier this month, said the SNP’s statement on the A96 must commit to fully dualling the road “as quickly as possible”.
He said that despite the A96 being “crucial” for the region, ministers have continued to “kick its review into the long grass”.
He said: “The SNP should not have had to be dragged kicking and screaming into giving this statement.
“Those delays have been shameful and shows that dualling the A96 is simply not a priority for this central belt obsessed SNP government, who have rowed back on their previous pledge to fully dual the road.
“Constituents in Moray and the Highlands have waited long enough for SNP ministers to finally publish the review. The review must be made public alongside this statement to allow MSPs and local communities to properly scrutinise not only the review, but also the SNP government’s response to it.
“This includes the full corridor review for the A96 dualling, which was due in December 2022 but is yet to be published.”
Scottish Conservative MSPs Edward Mountain (Highlands and Islands) and leader Russell Findlay (West Scotland) said: “We fully support The Inverness Courier’s petition to ask the Scottish Government to publish a clear timeline by the end of 2024 for the dualling of the A96 between Inverness and Nairn, and for the construction of the Nairn Bypass.
“Highlanders’ lives are being put at risk with every day the A96 dualling programme is further delayed. The road was supposed to be dualled by 2030, but work is yet to start.
“The publication of a timeline would reassure Highlanders that their pleas for safety on their roads are being heard, especially following the devastating news that a 27-year-old woman lost her life on the road earlier this month.”
Highland Conservative MSP Tim Eagle said he was also in support of the initiative.
Backing to the petition has come also from Labour’s Highland MSP Rhoda Grant, who said she will continue her support for this campaign.
She said: “Residents of Nairn have had years of traffic and backlog and it has long needed to be addressed by Transport Scotland.”
More than 1300 people have signed the petition so far.
One supporter commented: “There are major traffic problems - not just at peak times - going through Nairn and a bypass is desperately needed.
“This bypass was talked about over 30 years ago and we still haven’t got it. I went to a recent meeting in the United Reform Church and someone there said that the Scottish Government attitude was ‘extend and pretend’, I have to agree with that comment.
“If this was the central belt, it would have been done by now.”
You can sign the petition at this link.
