Meeting of the Parliament 19 December 2024
I congratulate Pam Gosal on lodging the motion and on her excellent speech in opening today’s debate. Moray Council, like many others, suffers from potholes in our roads. I know that the council always seeks to fill those as quickly as possible but, as one is filled, another is created.
I will pick up on Ben Macpherson’s point about utility companies, because I had complaints last month about the number of roadworks across the Moray area. I contacted the council to ask how many roadworks incidents had occurred in Moray this year and was told that, from 1 January to 14 November this year, when the council responded to me, almost 5,000 roadworks had been registered with the council. Of those 5,000, 3,500 were caused by work done by utility companies and, although that work is needed, it causes disruption to local roads. A further 1,350 were local council works, causing a huge amount of disruption for travellers in the area. We need more joined-up working by utility companies and councils to minimise disruption for our constituents.
Other members have mentioned trunk roads. I am keen to get on the right side of the Deputy Presiding Officer and note that a line in the motion shows that the debate is not only about potholes, so I will spend the rest of my time today talking about the A96 and particularly about issues at the Union bridge in Keith. I mean absolutely no disrespect to the minister, but I had hoped that the Cabinet Secretary for Transport would be responding to this transport debate. I do mean no disrespect to the minister, but we know that Fiona Hyslop was in the chamber for First Minister’s questions and then left before this debate. My points are for the cabinet secretary, and I hope that the minister will pass them on.
I have raised the issue of traffic lights on the A96, which is the trunk road between Inverness and Aberdeen. They have caused huge disruption for constituents and businesses in Keith. I asked Fiona Hyslop to come to Keith to hear the concerns of local businesses, but she refused. Perhaps that was personal and she just did not want to accept my invitation, but last night I was copied into an email by Linda Gorn, the chair of the United Keith group, who had written to Fiona Hyslop in similar terms, asking her to come to Keith to see the impact that roadworks are having on the area.
Linda Gorn sent that letter on 22 October and she finally got a response on 18 December. That did not come from Fiona Hyslop, despite the letter being sent to her. It came from her permanent secretary, a civil servant who took two months to respond and whose response was that Fiona Hyslop is too busy and that diary pressures mean that she cannot come to the north of Scotland to hear about those impacts. That is not acceptable and I am urging in this debate, as I will in a follow-up letter, that Fiona Hyslop should finally get out of the central belt, come to Moray, visit Keith and see the impact on the area.