Chamber
Plenary, 05 Mar 2003
05 Mar 2003 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Transport
I welcome the minister's statement and I was pleased by the remarks that he made in answer to David Mundell about the place of the Borders rail link in his list of priority projects. Will the minister acknowledge and reaffirm the immense economic, social and environmental value of the project for the people of Edinburgh and Midlothian, as well as for the people of the Borders? Will he join me in welcoming the fact that, this morning, Scottish Borders Council passed draft proposals for the private bill that it will introduce in the next few weeks? I hope that he will agree that the parliamentary system for dealing with the bill can and should be sped up.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Sir David Steel):
NPA
The next item of business is a ministerial statement by Iain Gray on the "Building Better Transport" report.
Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Before Mr Gray starts, I seek agreement from other members about the temperature and atmosphere in the chamber, which...
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
That is an unusual point of order, but I take the member's point and I will look into the matter. I know that members have complained about the heating in th...
The Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning (Iain Gray):
Lab
Last year, the transport delivery report focused our effort in transport on three main themes: tackling congestion; improving integration and accessibility, ...
Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
An Executive is judged neither on the number of brochures published, on studies promoted nor on a manifesto for a future period of office; it is judged on it...
Iain Gray:
Lab
I am proud to say that the Executive has opened the first new rail line in Scotland for 10 years—the Edinburgh crossrail project.Mr MacAskill has to understa...
David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
I welcome the fact that the Executive has woken up to the fact that the Scottish economy and transport are inextricably linked. That realisation is four year...
Iain Gray:
Lab
I remind members that those comments on Edinburgh's transport come from the party whose main contribution to the debate so far has consisted of dressing up L...
Ian Jenkins (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD):
LD
I welcome the minister's statement and I was pleased by the remarks that he made in answer to David Mundell about the place of the Borders rail link in his l...
Iain Gray:
Lab
As I have made clear on numerous occasions, it is for the Waverley railway partnership to produce the business case and to introduce the private bill that wi...
Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab):
Lab
I welcome the minister's statement. Will he assure me that thinking about transport in Edinburgh and the Lothians is integrated? Will he also assure me that ...
Iain Gray:
Lab
There is no doubt that integration is key to our planning. Perhaps one of the great mistakes that was made in transport infrastructure improvement in Scotlan...
Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP):
SNP
The minister strongly stresses the importance of the strategic transport infrastructure. In that context, I wish to ask him about the Fochabers and Mosstodlo...
Iain Gray:
Lab
I appreciate the points that Mrs Ewing makes. In the journey of a new road from its inception to its construction, 90 per cent is taken up with preparation. ...
Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab):
Lab
I welcome today's statement from the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning. The new spending regime that he has outlined brings us signifi...
Iain Gray:
Lab
Sarah Boyack makes a powerful point about the balance of the investment plan. On the increase that we propose over the three years of the next spending revie...
Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
I welcome what the minister has said about the mechanism to forward-fund major infrastructure projects beyond the three-year cycle. I want to press him on th...
Iain Gray:
Lab
For a number of good reasons, I will not make an explicit funding announcement with an amount of money attached. One reason for that is that the Waverley rai...
Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab):
Lab
I welcome the minister's statement. I know that the people of Aberdeen, especially my constituents, are delighted with the commitment to build the western pe...
Iain Gray:
Lab
Since announcing our commitment to the strategic sections of the peripheral route, we have reached agreement with the local authorities in that part of Scotl...
Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
I want to pick up on two points that the minister mentioned: his announcement of £375 million for Edinburgh and his statement that he will make another annou...
Iain Gray:
Lab
I simply cannot begin to comprehend why anyone should think that providing funding for transport improvements to which we are committed in Edinburgh should b...
Bristow Muldoon (Livingston) (Lab):
Lab
I welcome the minister's statement and agree with Sarah Boyack's earlier comments, welcoming the increased role for public transport in the Executive's trans...
Iain Gray:
Lab
The improvements contained in the investment plan will link powerfully our Scottish people and their skills with the labour markets where those skills can be...
Phil Gallie:
Con
The minister has been generous with taxpayers' money today—£3 billion plus the Borders rail link.Is the minister aware of the delay in the Chancellor of the ...
Iain Gray:
Lab
It is true that our ability to look forward to capital and infrastructure improvements depends on a reasonable assumption of economic stability. If there is ...
Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West):
*
Will the minister assure me that there will be an early start on the improvement of motorway links at Larbert, so that there is better access to the nearby b...
Iain Gray:
Lab
Having made those commitments, I am concerned to proceed with them as quickly as possible. If the member considers the M80 completion for example, he will fi...
Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD):
LD
I apologise for missing the beginning of the minister's statement, but I welcome the work that he has done on Edinburgh Park station, which is important. I u...
Iain Gray:
Lab
Margaret Smith makes an important point—that the purpose of congestion charging as planned by the City of Edinburgh Council is to cut congestion. Whatever ha...