The SNP’s transport minister has refused to confirm if the A96 will be dualled in full, stating a review will determine the way forward.
A row is swirling over the project after the Tories asked the UK Government to intervene if the SNP choose not to fully dual the route from Inverness to Inverurie.
It comes after an exclusive interview on The Stooshie – the DC Thomson politics podcast – in which north-east Green MSP Maggie Chapman revealed she is confident it will “not be viable” to fully dual the route for environmental reasons.
Tess White, Conservative MSP for the north-east, asked Transport Minister Graeme Dey if he agreed with Ms Chapman, to which he said she is “entitled” to her view.
He added he is “committed to the review process” which will “determine how we take this forward” but that the “current plan” is to fully dual the route.
Mr Dey said: “As part of the co-operation agreement we agreed to conduct a transparent, evidence-based review of the programme which will report by the end of 2022.”
We revealed on Monday that north-east MP Andrew Bowie had asked UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps whether he would act “to help ensure” the dualling goes ahead – despite the issue being devolved to Scotland.
The Stooshie
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In a response received from UK Transport Minister Trudy Harrison on Wednesday, she said “roads within Scotland are the responsibility of the Scottish Government”.
However, the minister added that the Department for Transport is “willing to collaborate, where appropriate, on matters benefitting people across the United Kingdom”.
Transport Scotland said the UK Government has “no locus in this matter” as transport policy is “devolved to Scottish ministers”.
‘Completely out of touch’
Ms White described the Scottish Government power-sharing deal as a “political road block” after Mr Dey refused to confirm whether the full dualling would go ahead or not.
She accused the Greens of being “completely out of touch with what the people of the north-east want” and claimed the SNP are “bowing down to their ridiculous demands”.
The Conservative MSP also raised safety concerns along the route and quoted recent figures which show 195 people in the north-east have been involved in a crash in the last three years.
However, Mr Dey said that if Ms White was suggesting that safety concerns on the route would be ignored then that is “reprehensible and it is untrue”.
‘Deliberately misleading’
In response to Ms White, Ms Chapman said the Tories are “deliberately misleading people about plans for the A96” as the Greens have said they are supportive of safety improvements being carried out on the route.
She added: “If Tess White had taken the time to read the co-operation deal between the Scottish Greens and the SNP she’d know that safety improvements will go ahead like the already completed bypass at Fochabers and be the absolute priority when it comes to our approach to roads, along with a climate impact assessment on every proposal.
“What we won’t do is needlessly spend billions on road expansions that increase the traffic burden and drive up climate emissions, like the reckless UK Government has pledged to do.”