SNP councillors have branded the cost of Elgin’s controversial Western Link Road “staggering”.
And Nationalist members of the local authority believe spending £770,000 on the annual loan charges for the £11.8million scheme would be a waste of money.
But council convener Allan Wright rejected the claims and said the figure would be more than covered by about £4million of council tax revenue expected to be generated by the housing and commercial developments the route will spawn.
SNP group leader Gary Coull said: “We have long expressed our concerns about the cost of this project and the need for it, especially when we see the progress being made on the design of a dualled A96.
“A dual carriageway bypass of Elgin will radically alter traffic flow, and I question whether this is the right thing to be committing £770,000 in recurring spend when we know those changes are coming, particularly at a time when we know budgets are being squeezed.
“Independent councillors need to seriously consider whether they want to increase borrowing costs by such a substantial amount given the detrimental impact this will have on other council services and projects.”
Buckie SNP member Gordon McDonald added: “When this project started so many years ago now the benefit-cost analysis was pretty marginal. With far faster than predicted progress on A96 dualling that surely changes the goalposts.
“Is this level of year-on-year spend to cover the borrowing really acceptable? I would say it is not. While Elgin, like many towns, need traffic management improvements, this is not the solution. It is beyond time to stop this extremely contentious project.”
Mr Wright said: “The SNP objection to the link road is well known. The argument has raged in recent committee meetings on the issue.
“But as far as the cost is concerned, the council tax income from the new houses that the link road will open up will far outweigh the initial cost.
“And I have seen no evidence of rapid improvement in the time scale for the dualling of the A96.
“As far as I’m led to believe, the timescale is still 2030, and the link road and the A96 are not necessarily connected, as has been stated to us by different government ministers.”