Further doubt has been cast over the full dualling of the A96 as no timetable has been put in place for the works, say the Conservatives.
The future of the major road project has been under scrutiny since the SNP and Greens entered into a power-sharing deal and agreed to carry out an environmental review before proceeding with the scheme.
Scottish Conservative MSP Liam Kerr wrote to Transport Minister Graeme Dey asking when upgrade work will begin on the dualling, should it be granted the green light when the review reports back at the end of next year.
In a written response, the SNP minister said construction on any section of the route can only begin “if approved under the relevant statutory procedures”.
After this point, a “timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets”.
‘Coalition of chaos’
Mr Kerr, who represents the North East region at Holyrood, claims the absence of a start date highlights that the coalition is gearing itself up for the proposals to be scrapped after the completion of the route.
However, Transport Scotland said detailed delivery timescales “always depend” on the completion of the statutory process, and reiterated that the “current plan” is still to fully dual the route, subject to the review’s findings.
The Conservative MSP said: “I’m astounded and deeply concerned that the SNP are now saying they cannot commit to a start date for any section of the works even after the review.”
He added: “These plans were announced back in 2011 and now ten years on it seems the SNP have decided to backtrack on the proposals to satisfy their Green partners.
“It’s quite clear this coalition of chaos have no intention to fully dual the A96 and are gearing themselves up for the review to come back negative on this much-needed upgrade.”
‘Safety should be the absolute priority’
Ms Chapman accused Mr Kerr of “continuing to scaremonger” and said it has “repeatedly been made clear that safety improvements will go ahead on the A96”.
The Stooshie – the politics podcast from DC Thomson – exclusively revealed last month that the Green MSP is confident it will “not be viable” to fully dual the route for environmental reasons.
She said: “Safety should be the absolute priority when it comes to our approach to roads, along with a climate impact assessment on every proposal to ensure we are not just paving the way for more traffic congestion.”
Ms Chapman added: “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 threatened to do in Scotland.”
During a visit to the north-east in April, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon admitted the coronavirus pandemic threatened to delay the dualling of the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness.
The original target was to complete the project by 2030 but in recent months the future of the full dualling has been in doubt.
Current plan to fully dual route
A Transport Scotland spokesman said the “current plan is to fully dual the A96 route” but says the Scottish Government has agreed to conduct a “transparent, evidence-based review” of the scheme, which will report back by the end of next year.
He added: “It should be noted that procurement and construction phases can only commence when the statutory process has concluded satisfactorily and detailed delivery timescales will always depend on this.
“Future investment in our transport network will be set out in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review and will align with the sustainable mode and investment hierarchies.”
The Stooshie
To listen and subscribe, free, search for ‘The Stooshie’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts!