Chamber
Plenary, 07 Feb 2002
07 Feb 2002 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Scotland's Road Network
If Kenny MacAskill wants to quote Shakespeare, he should take some advice from the late Sir John Gielgud, who said, "Less is more." Yet again, an SNP-inspired debate has contained much ranting about how bad everything is, but nothing about what the SNP would do about the situation. The SNP seeks to seize on legitimate public concern about the operation of trunk road maintenance and turn it into the old-style Labour argument that everything public is good and everything private is bad. Even John Prescott does not subscribe to that.
Those of us who have the misfortune to live in local authority areas in which the SNP has a degree of control, such as Dumfries and Galloway, know that, when given the choice, SNP councillors vote to reduce winter maintenance and oppose measures that would result in more investment in the local road network. We should be clear: roads are no more a priority for the SNP than are the myriad issues that it brings to the chamber that are of the political flavour of the moment.
There are many legitimate complaints about how the trunk road maintenance contracts are bedding in, particularly about BEAR and Amey's customer service arrangements. I have raised with the Deputy Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning a number of serious concerns about Amey's lack of responsiveness on the A7 and its failure to respond to police requests to carry out gritting after a series of accidents on the A701.
As Conservative members have warned in previous debates, disaggregation has adverse effects. I draw members' attention to one example from my experience of the A7 concerning the removal of snow from Langholm High Street pavements, which took place a full two days after the rest of the town had been cleared. On the A7, Scottish Borders Council is Amey's subcontractor, but the town is the responsibility of Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Such issues have cost implications and must be sorted out, not only in Langholm, but throughout Scotland. That is why, as the Conservatives have requested previously and as our amendment states, the Scottish Executive should
"review and report to the Parliament on the implications of disaggregation of trunk and local services for local authorities".
That is particularly significant in rural Scotland, although I believe that the worst fears about job losses have been mitigated by council organisations becoming the contractors' agents.
We must assuage legitimate public concerns and proceed with the report that the Auditor General recommended. Audit Scotland's most recent report on the matter concluded that the Scottish Executive development department is well placed to monitor the performance of BEAR and Amey and recommended that the department issue a report that details the first year's performance.
In a debate about Scotland's road network, it would be wrong to highlight only the problems on our trunk roads. Anyone who uses Scotland's network of non-trunk roads knows that they are in a dire state. They are used by heavy lorry traffic that was never envisaged and they have potholes, surface erosion and verges that are the equivalent of ditches. There is no sign of significant improvement.
Those of us who have the misfortune to live in local authority areas in which the SNP has a degree of control, such as Dumfries and Galloway, know that, when given the choice, SNP councillors vote to reduce winter maintenance and oppose measures that would result in more investment in the local road network. We should be clear: roads are no more a priority for the SNP than are the myriad issues that it brings to the chamber that are of the political flavour of the moment.
There are many legitimate complaints about how the trunk road maintenance contracts are bedding in, particularly about BEAR and Amey's customer service arrangements. I have raised with the Deputy Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning a number of serious concerns about Amey's lack of responsiveness on the A7 and its failure to respond to police requests to carry out gritting after a series of accidents on the A701.
As Conservative members have warned in previous debates, disaggregation has adverse effects. I draw members' attention to one example from my experience of the A7 concerning the removal of snow from Langholm High Street pavements, which took place a full two days after the rest of the town had been cleared. On the A7, Scottish Borders Council is Amey's subcontractor, but the town is the responsibility of Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Such issues have cost implications and must be sorted out, not only in Langholm, but throughout Scotland. That is why, as the Conservatives have requested previously and as our amendment states, the Scottish Executive should
"review and report to the Parliament on the implications of disaggregation of trunk and local services for local authorities".
That is particularly significant in rural Scotland, although I believe that the worst fears about job losses have been mitigated by council organisations becoming the contractors' agents.
We must assuage legitimate public concerns and proceed with the report that the Auditor General recommended. Audit Scotland's most recent report on the matter concluded that the Scottish Executive development department is well placed to monitor the performance of BEAR and Amey and recommended that the department issue a report that details the first year's performance.
In a debate about Scotland's road network, it would be wrong to highlight only the problems on our trunk roads. Anyone who uses Scotland's network of non-trunk roads knows that they are in a dire state. They are used by heavy lorry traffic that was never envisaged and they have potholes, surface erosion and verges that are the equivalent of ditches. There is no sign of significant improvement.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
SNP
The first item of business is a Scottish National Party debate on motion S1M-2703, in the name of Kenny MacAskill, on Scotland's road network, and two amendm...
Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
I start by quoting briefly from Shakespeare: "Now is the winter of our discontent"—not, I should add,"Made glorious summer by this sun of York"but made a sha...
George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD):
LD
Will Mr MacAskill take an intervention?
Mr MacAskill:
SNP
Not at the moment.Elected representatives have had the opportunity in previous debates to register their vote against the folly of splitting up and hiving of...
George Lyon:
LD
Is it the policy of the SNP to tear up the contract and return to the status quo?
Mr MacAskill:
SNP
If Mr Lyon would listen to my speech, he will hear my suggestions. We should never have got into this situation in the first place. The Executive sold out th...
The Deputy Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning (Lewis Macdonald):
Lab
I am glad that Kenny MacAskill has found time in his schedule of tireless campaigning to come and join us in Parliament and spend time doing what the taxpaye...
Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP):
SNP
Does the minister recall an occasion, when the councils were responsible for road maintenance, on which sandbags were used to fill gullies as a temporary rem...
Lewis Macdonald:
Lab
I recall many things that have happened during the years that I have lived in the north-east of Scotland. I assure Mrs Ewing that every fault that is identif...
Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
The minister's local council, Aberdeen City Council, wrote to me expressing concern"about the obvious lack of resources that have been attributed to the trun...
Lewis Macdonald:
Lab
No, I do not. Councils may have concerns and complaints, but those—such as Aberdeen City Council and Highland Council—that see a future for themselves in roa...
Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP):
SNP
Will the minister accept an intervention?
Lewis Macdonald:
Lab
Not at the moment. I am aware that I do not have much time left. I do not want to waste too much time on Mr MacAskill's claim that ministers ignored warnings...
Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab):
Lab
Will the minister give way?
Lewis Macdonald:
Lab
No, I will not. I am in my last few moments. The performance audit group audits the companies' records and procedures, deploys its own field engineers to che...
Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Will the minister give way?
Lewis Macdonald:
Lab
No. I am aware that I am in my final moments.We have imposed those penalties a number of times, and we will do so again whenever the terms of the contract ar...
David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
If Kenny MacAskill wants to quote Shakespeare, he should take some advice from the late Sir John Gielgud, who said, "Less is more." Yet again, an SNP-inspire...
Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Does David Mundell accept that the local problems to which he referred might be the result of the 18 years of underinvestment in which his party indulged dur...
David Mundell:
Con
As ever, that intervention was about the past and did not propose a positive solution, which is what I am about to do.Members who raise with ministers concer...
Mrs Margaret Ewing:
SNP
Will the member give way?
David Mundell:
Con
I must move the amendment, which unfortunately brings me to the end of my speech.I move amendment S1M-2703.2, to leave out from first "notes" to end and inse...
Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD):
LD
There is no doubt that during the recent spells of wintry weather Scotland's road network was dangerous and that individuals and businesses were, at least, i...
Mr MacAskill:
SNP
Nora Radcliffe's colleague Jamie Stone said in a previous debate on the matter:"this process is tragic for rural areas … It means rural job losses"and"Worse ...
Nora Radcliffe:
LD
I agree that he was right to have those apprehensions, but the reality has not been as it might have been. We must start from the present position and move f...
Bruce Crawford:
SNP
Is the minister—sorry, the member, although perhaps she should be a minister—aware that the Clyde Solway Consortium, which was formerly the south-west unit, ...
Nora Radcliffe:
LD
The simple answer is no.There were difficulties in my area when irresponsible drivers ignored "road closed" signs. Did that hamper the road-clearing effort? ...
Mrs Margaret Ewing:
SNP
Is the member aware that the equipment that BEAR was instructed to use was not sufficient for the Glens of Foudland and that drivers were told to keep the pl...
Nora Radcliffe:
LD
That was the result of inexperience. As I say, the experience that has been gained and local advice means that that will not be repeated. Both my constituenc...
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
SNP
We move now to open debate. Speeches will be of four minutes plus time for interventions.