Hansard

Yes, please, convener, and thank you for letting me speak. I pay tribute to Finlay Carson and Brian Whittle for the work that they have done on the issue. They have done the heavy lifting in driving forward some of this work in the Parliament. I also pay tribute to the Dual the A75 campaign group and the A77 Action Group. I should declare an interest: I live at Ballantrae, and I have driven on the A77 in and around Ayr, on many days of the week, for my whole life. So much work is needed on the road. Finlay Carson is correct to say that the roads from Ayr to Stranraer and from Stranraer to Dumfries are the forgotten roads of south-west Scotland and need to be upgraded. As far as I can see, very little work is being done on the A77 apart from the emergency repair work at Glen App and Carlock, which is vital because the road is going to fall off the hill—a bit like the A83, which Maurice Corry mentioned. If I may say so, convener, I suggest that the committee keeps the petitions open and seeks an update from the transport minister on the strategic transport projects review in the context of the work that is needed on the roads. I welcome the United Kingdom Government’s commitment to spend £20 million to jump-start connectivity across the UK, which was announced in the context of the interim report of Sir Peter Hendy’s union connectivity review. There appears to be a willingness—at least on the part of the UK Government—to try to bring the roads up to the trunk road standard that is appropriate for the traffic that uses them. I very much support the committee’s endeavours to get the roads brought up to standard and I again commend the work thus far of everyone who is involved in the petitions.