Chamber
Plenary, 16 Sep 1999
16 Sep 1999 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Non-Executive Business: Transport
A great deal of lip service is paid by unionist politicians to the need for an integrated transport network to serve Scotland's social and economic needs. The reality is that the failure of successive Tory and Labour Governments to invest in infrastructure projects and public transport is leading to a disintegration of our transport links and services. Over the past 10 years the volume of traffic on the roads in Scotland has increased by 25 per cent and it is set to increase by a further 25 per cent in the next 10 years. Despite that, Labour will not prioritise investment in roads programmes. Roads expenditure has been cut savagely since Labour came to power. Current spending plans for motorways and trunk roads are a mere £50 million over the first three years of this Parliament.
We await the long-delayed strategic roads review. I hope that its outcome will be a substantial increase in the budget so that urgently needed projects such as the upgrading of the A77 between Glasgow and Kilmarnock are given the go-ahead. I have little confidence that that will be the outcome, however, given that a series of pronouncements by Labour politicians suggest that road spending will continue to be low. The prevalent attitude is typified by George Foulkes, the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley MP, who dismissed roads as an issue during the election campaign and suggested that Labour was happy to leave it to the SNP.
Labour is making two fundamental mistakes in disregarding the fact that, after years of Tory neglect of public transport, increasing numbers of people depend on cars, and the fact that the cuts to road improvement programmes are having a severe impact on road safety and economic development. The situation in Ayrshire illustrates that. The A77 is the main road artery connecting Ayrshire to Glasgow; Mrs McIntosh has already said how dangerous that road is. It is used every day by 37,000 vehicles—that is 7,000 over its capacity. By 2005 an increase of a further 8,000 vehicles a day is expected. The proposed PFI to build a Glasgow south orbital route with a link to the A77 would add another 9,000 vehicles. If the Executive fails to bring forward a plan to upgrade that road immediately, it will be guilty of deliberately neglecting public safety.
In more general terms, the drive to regenerate the Ayrshire economy has been severely hampered by the lack of trunk road development. To the north we need an upgrade of the A737 to connect it to the M8. In the south and west the narrow and aging road network does not help the tourism industry that towns such as Maybole and Girvan need to develop. Girvan has the highest level of unemployment in Scotland, and the lack of a bypass is causing severe structural damage to the town centre of Maybole. In the east, the former mining communities of Cumnock and Doon Valley are suffering high unemployment and rapid depopulation that could be stemmed if cheap and affordable public transport links and better roads were available so that people could travel to areas where there are jobs, such as Ayr and Prestwick.
The greatest economic opportunity for Ayrshire is the development of Prestwick airport now that the fifth freedom rights have been granted. There is a missing link there too—a fast corridor to the M74 is needed to open up the north of England market and to ensure that Prestwick becomes a major European air freight hub as well as a rival to Manchester for passenger services.
I am afraid that the next four years may see little or nothing of that agenda addressed, let alone fulfilled, while Westminster holds the Parliament's purse-strings. Roll on independence.
We await the long-delayed strategic roads review. I hope that its outcome will be a substantial increase in the budget so that urgently needed projects such as the upgrading of the A77 between Glasgow and Kilmarnock are given the go-ahead. I have little confidence that that will be the outcome, however, given that a series of pronouncements by Labour politicians suggest that road spending will continue to be low. The prevalent attitude is typified by George Foulkes, the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley MP, who dismissed roads as an issue during the election campaign and suggested that Labour was happy to leave it to the SNP.
Labour is making two fundamental mistakes in disregarding the fact that, after years of Tory neglect of public transport, increasing numbers of people depend on cars, and the fact that the cuts to road improvement programmes are having a severe impact on road safety and economic development. The situation in Ayrshire illustrates that. The A77 is the main road artery connecting Ayrshire to Glasgow; Mrs McIntosh has already said how dangerous that road is. It is used every day by 37,000 vehicles—that is 7,000 over its capacity. By 2005 an increase of a further 8,000 vehicles a day is expected. The proposed PFI to build a Glasgow south orbital route with a link to the A77 would add another 9,000 vehicles. If the Executive fails to bring forward a plan to upgrade that road immediately, it will be guilty of deliberately neglecting public safety.
In more general terms, the drive to regenerate the Ayrshire economy has been severely hampered by the lack of trunk road development. To the north we need an upgrade of the A737 to connect it to the M8. In the south and west the narrow and aging road network does not help the tourism industry that towns such as Maybole and Girvan need to develop. Girvan has the highest level of unemployment in Scotland, and the lack of a bypass is causing severe structural damage to the town centre of Maybole. In the east, the former mining communities of Cumnock and Doon Valley are suffering high unemployment and rapid depopulation that could be stemmed if cheap and affordable public transport links and better roads were available so that people could travel to areas where there are jobs, such as Ayr and Prestwick.
The greatest economic opportunity for Ayrshire is the development of Prestwick airport now that the fifth freedom rights have been granted. There is a missing link there too—a fast corridor to the M74 is needed to open up the north of England market and to ensure that Prestwick becomes a major European air freight hub as well as a rival to Manchester for passenger services.
I am afraid that the next four years may see little or nothing of that agenda addressed, let alone fulfilled, while Westminster holds the Parliament's purse-strings. Roll on independence.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Sir David Steel):
NPA
We now move to the main business this morning, which is the non-Executive business debate on motion S1M-151, in the name of Murray Tosh, on transport and on ...
Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
In the past year or so, transport has leapt to the top of the country's political agenda. One would not necessarily conclude that by looking at the somewhat ...
Mr Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab):
Lab
How does that argument square with the Conservatives' cuts in the roads budget from £247 million to £162 million, and with their reductions in grants to loca...
Mr Tosh:
Con
If Mr Kerr looks at the figures for road construction under the Conservative Government, he will find that, at 1999 prices, the Conservative Government manag...
Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD):
LD
Is Mr Tosh saying that the Conservatives are against the principle of tolling or just against the practice of tolling?
Mr Tosh:
Con
In the current climate, we are against the principle of tolling. The Government is attacking the motorist from every conceivable direction by means of the fu...
Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab):
Lab
Will the member give way?
Mr Tosh:
Con
Not in the middle of a point, thank you.The Government and the Executive are jointly in the middle of a take, take exercise. I will acknowledge the fact that...
Mr Kerr:
Lab
That was your party.
Mr Tosh:
Con
Andy should examine the current year and the projections for the next few years before interrupting me again. Nobody has been prepared to say that toll money...
Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD):
LD
Will Mr Tosh give way?
Mr Tosh:
Con
No, I have given way twice. I am willing to give way on another matter, later on, if Sir David will indulge me. The Conservative party recognises that not al...
Tavish Scott:
LD
It was 5 per cent.
Mr Tosh:
Con
We were not committed to continuing it to 2002. Above all, we are realists. If members consider the differential fuel price between this country and our Euro...
Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP):
SNP
Will the member give way?
Mr Tosh:
Con
No, I am sorry, Mr Morgan. I intended to give way, but Sir David is indicating that I have to wind up. I have already taken two interventions, as well as Mr ...
The Minister for Transport and the Environment (Sarah Boyack):
Lab
I am grateful to the Conservative Opposition for this opportunity to debate the future of transport in Scotland and to highlight the depth of confusion and d...
Mr Tosh rose—
Con
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
Does Mr Tosh wish to intervene on the issue of public transport?
Mr Tosh:
Con
The minister asked what the Conservative Government had done. The answer is the M74, the M77, the St James interchange next to Glasgow airport, the Edinburgh...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
The Conservative Government left us a legacy of an over-ambitious programme, in Scotland and in the United Kingdom as a whole. We are the Government that now...
Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
Will the minister give way?
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
Not at this point, Kenny.What about public transport? We heard a little from Mr Tosh about how public transport cannot meet our balanced transport objectives...
Mr Tosh rose—
Con
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
Perhaps Mr Tosh could enlighten us.
Mr Tosh:
Con
The previous Conservative Government did not propose tolling on any existing route or on any upgrade. It introduced powers—which are currently being used in ...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I quoted from "Paying for Better Motorways", which does not talk exclusively about new roads. The Conservatives think that it is important that we discuss th...
David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con):
Con
On a point of order. John Redwood is not the transport spokesman for the Conservatives; Mr Tosh is.
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
That is not a point of order, although it may be a point of information.
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
In the absence of any practical proposals from Mr Tosh, we have to look to the Tories' 10-point plan for the motorist. John Redwood's proposals are for minim...