Tories slam SNP over A96 dualling - as repair bill revealed
The Scottish Government had announced plans to upgrade the A96 in 2016, promising to convert the 102 mile road into a dual carriageway by 2030.
However, the £3b commitment was rowed back last year, as Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop blamed austerity from the UK Government and a lengthy review of the project for delays.
Douglas Lumsden has criticised the delay. (Image: Conor McAuley) North East Conservative MSP Douglas Lumsden has slammed the government over the 'eye-watering' figures, which he said demonstrated that the A96 'is not fit for the 21st century'.
Mr Lumsden added: 'After decades of neglect by the SNP, it's no surprise that repair costs are soaring each year as the road falls into a state of disrepair.
'This is the tragic reality of the dangers the road poses, yet the transport minister continues to kick the prospect of fully dualling the road into the long grass, despite the SNP's promise 14 years ago.
Mr Lumsden went on to call on Ms Hyslop to 'stop this nonsense" and 'commit to the full upgrade, once and for all, before parliament resumes.
'The Scottish Government's failure to properly improve the A96 betrays local communities, undermines the North East's future connectivity and endangers lives,' he said.
'Rather than spending endless sums patching up the A96, the SNP must prioritise dualling the road as a matter of urgency.'
In a Transport Scotland statement, a spokesperson said the nation's motorway and trunk road network was the Scottish Government's 'single biggest asset' - and that £714m was set to be spent in 2025/26, despite a decrease in capital project funding from the UK Government.
The spokesperson added: 'We have continued to invest in the maintenance of all trunk roads, including the A96, in order to ensure the continued safe and effective operation of the network that road users rely upon. These costs also include repairs and recovery from storm damage, which are on the increase.
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'Our current favoured position is to fully dual the A96 and we are already starting the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including a Nairn Bypass, having acquired the land for the scheme earlier this year.
"We continue to progress the work to determine the most suitable procurement option for delivering this scheme and thereafter a timetable for progress can then be set in line with available budgets."
The spokesperson noted that the [[Scottish Government]] had agreed to carry out a review of the A96 corridor as part of the Bute House Agreement, as their erstwhile partners in government, the Scottish Greens, were opposed to the road's dualling.
An ensuing consultation received more than 1,400 responses from communities and businesses along the A96.
76% of respondents were 'dissatisfied' or 'very dissatisfied' with the draft outcomes of Transport Scotland's review, which recommended that the road not be dualled in its entirety.
'Any decision on the way ahead for the A96 corridor will need to take into consideration the UK Government's recent Spending Review and its impact on Scottish Budgets,' the spokesperson said, 'as well as the forthcoming update to the Scottish Government's Infrastructure Investment Plan, expected later this year.'
Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing left the SNP in part over the dualling delays. (Image: PA) Longtime Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing left the [[SNP]] earlier this year in a row over the government's lack of progress in dualling the road. He will stand as an independent candidate in 2026.
Writing in the [[Inverness]] Courier in March, he said: 'It's not good enough that both governments have these great plans and ambitions for renewables, mostly to be delivered in the north and north east, but they do not match them with commensurate investment in our transport and public services.
'We here are expected to do the work, to create the development, and the impacts of pylons and turbines, but are not to get the assistance to upgrade our roads, schools, GP practices, Raigmore, or indeed the rail services about which we are getting many more complaints of late.
'Now, near on £100 million has been, or will shortly be, spent on the A96 and not one inch of tarmac laid.'
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We must unlock the investment that would deliver new housing, says Colin Brown Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In May 2024, the Scottish Parliament declared a national 'housing emergency' with some councils also declaring a housing emergency in their areas. The announcement of the emergency came two months after the Scottish Government laid the Housing (Scotland) Bill before the Scottish Parliament. The Bill continues to work its way through Holyrood and is expected to come into force later this year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Observers in the world of institutional investment and those working in the sector have been watching the progress of the Bill with interest. Of particular concern to investors are proposals around rent controls. Colin Brown is a Partner at TLT To give one example that has occurred recently – a London-based investment firm, was about to commit many millions of pounds to its first Scottish investment before discovering that a committee considering the Bill had voted to include purpose-built student accommodation as subject to statutory rent controls. All of the financial appraisals the firm had undertaken in making the decision to invest in Scotland were potentially being ripped up by MSPs and they had no power to do anything about this. In this situation, the Scottish Government moved quickly to make clear it would not support rent control for purpose-built student accommodation. Whilst the project is now starting to come out of the ground it remains to be seen whether they consider Scotland a safe haven for future investment. The rental income which institutional investors derive from their investments in bricks and mortar helps to fund many individuals' pensions. The investors need to understand that in exchange for making their money available they will get a return on their investment and this return has generally been left to market forces – the law of supply and demand. The housing emergency should make investment in new build housing in Scotland a win-win. The country gets much-needed new housing to alleviate the emergency, and the investment funds get to deploy their capital to deliver housing and make a return on their investment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In the UK in the first quarter of this year £1.2 billion was invested in private rental accommodation with the potential for £6bn to be invested by the end of the year. 76 per cent of this investment is being directed outside London, with Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds leading the way. Every penny of this investment creates new housing and sustains and creates job opportunities. The fact that Scotland has not been able to open the investment tap when cities in England are seeing private rental accommodation expand, could be seen as a missed opportunity. In launching the latest consultation, the Social Justice Secretary acknowledges that rental properties are a crucial element of the efforts to tackle the housing emergency. Government policy has slowed investment into the sector in recent years and resulted in lower investor confidence in providing much-needed housing. Rent caps and controls are of course not universally despised and a balance must be struck between protecting tenants and unlocking the investment that delivers the new housing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The latest consultation on exemptions for certain types of properties from rent control closed earlier this month. There will be investors with capital looking for a home waiting to see if the legislative and political environment in Scotland means they should be deploying more of this in Scotland or continuing to explore opportunities which guarantee a better return elsewhere.
