SNP must ‘halt’ A96 dualling project claims Highlands and Islands MSP Ariane Burgess
A Highlands and Islands MSP says the SNP must ‘halt’ plans to fully dual the A96.
Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop said the Scottish Government remains committed to fully dualling the key route despite confirming that the 2030 deadline for the project had been dropped.
Ms Hyslop confirmed the news in a statement at the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
The commitment comes despite a review, published hours before, revealing that the Scottish Government could abandon plans to dual the A96 in favour of a “refined” package of eight options.
MSP Ariane Burgess, Scottish Greens, said there is “no economic or environmental case” for dualling the A96 in its entirety and has encouraged the Scottish Government to drop the plans.
She said: “If the full dualling goes ahead, it will be incompatible with Scottish goals to reduce the number of cars on our roads and cut climate emissions.
“We are already far behind where we need to be on our climate targets, and we cannot afford to pour billions of pounds into a project that will only push that target back even further.
“Some safety improvements and bypasses on the A96 are important, for example reducing the speed limit through Brodie, but the exorbitant sums set aside for fully dualling could be put to far better use by investing in these safety improvements and better public transport, which could cut our emissions rapidly and give people choices other than travelling by car.”
On the publication of the review, she added: “The climate assessment is long overdue, but we know that no review worth the paper it's printed on would recommend ploughing ahead with such a climate wrecking project.
“We badly need to cut the cost of public transport.”
