Meeting of the Parliament 05 June 2024
In January, the Automobile Association released its latest pothole index, which showed that, across the UK, car damage caused by potholes was the worst that it has been in five years, with an estimated £475 million-worth of damage caused in 2023.
The timing of this debate is fitting, given that most members in the chamber will be spending time out in communities. In the communities that I have visited to speak to people, issues with potholes come up time and time again. As such, I agree with the motion, which raises the issue of the chronic underfunding of local authorities that the Government has presided over. The cabinet secretary demonstrated that when she talked about the investment in trunk roads and then said that all other roads are responsibility of local authorities. The fact is that the SNP Government has completely hammered local authority funding in a disproportionate way. Compared with all other cuts in funding across Scotland, local government has taken the hardest hit.
A massive number of the problems that people incur day in, day out are caused by potholes on local authority roads. It is not good enough for the cabinet secretary simply to say that it is down to local authorities, when the Government has slashed local authority budgets. Local authorities are having to prioritise between education, social work and putting money into roads. The roads have suffered, and the people who drive cars have suffered, too.
However, cuts by the SNP Government have caused suffering not only to those who drive cars, because of the damage, maintenance and cost incurred by families and individuals, but to pedestrians, too. Try to imagine what it is like for people who have sight problems, trying to cross a road and then hitting a pothole. It is the same with pavements. The budgets have been slashed, and it is not good enough.
I also want to talk about the bus partnership fund, which I have mentioned in my amendment. The fund was described as a
“landmark long-term investment ... of over £500 million to deliver ... bus priority measures”,
but only £26.9 million was spent before the fund was paused. When it was paused, I spoke to transport authorities across Scotland and found out that hundreds of millions of pounds of bids had been worked up for it. However, the fund seems to have been frozen, and those bids are now sitting with Transport Scotland.
I believe that, if we are to reach our net zero targets—targets that the SNP Government laid down—such as reducing car mileage by 20 per cent by 2030, we have to invest in public transport. Public transport, and investment in it, have to come first. As a bus user coming down the M90 motorway and passing all the cars in the morning, I often think, “Why on earth did I ever drive and sit in those big queues?” When the bus comes up to the Forth bridge and I see the queues for the Queensferry crossing, I think, “This is the right way to go.” However, as the bus comes into Edinburgh, it starts to get caught in traffic, and the whole scheme falls down.
Investments in public transport are absolutely crucial if we are to actually achieve the targets at the end of the day. The cabinet secretary should not just blame councils—she should get the investment in and get the potholes fixed, no matter whether a council or the Government is responsible for the road.
I move amendment S6M-13480.2, to insert at end:
“; further calls on the Scottish Government to confirm when the Bus Partnership Fund will be reinstated following the decision to pause this crucial infrastructure investment, and calls for a clear delivery plan for active travel, bus, ferry and rail infrastructure projects, with clear actions to reverse the decline in public transport, which has seen significant cuts to both rail and bus services in Scotland.”
15:40Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.