LIZ CAMERON
The news that the vital upgrade to the A9 at the Berriedale Braes in Caithness is likely to be delayed further by a public local inquiry is not just bad news for the businesses and residents of the north of Scotland and visitors to the area, it is symptomatic of the problems blighting Scotland’s capacity to provide the infrastructure that we need to foster growth and job creation.
Of course, due regard must be had to the views of those with legitimate concerns about the impact of the construction of new roads. However, the priority for our planning and legal systems must be to facilitate the development of essential infrastructure, supporting developers to address the concerns of objectors where need be.
Scotland has already suffered enough because the system, as it stands, allows the few to delay necessary investment for far too long a time. The recent example of the Aberdeen Bypass is indicative of this. The need for a bypass to take traffic around Aberdeen city centre was first identified as long ago as 1948 – long before the discovery of North Sea oil. The current plan to build the road was announced in 2003; a public local inquiry commenced in 2008 and the plans were formally approved by the Scottish Government in 2009. However construction work did not begin until earlier this year – six years after it was approved – and the road will be fully opened by the winter of 2017. The long drawn out saga of the M74 completion is another example. These kinds of delays between proposal, approval and construction are far too long. They cost businesses money and, ultimately, they costs jobs.
Scotland urgently needs to get its infrastructure right. We need investment in our roads to make them more reliable and resilient – such as at Berriedale Braes in the north and Maybole in the south west; we need twin track railways between our cities – upgrading the lines between the Central Belt, Aberdeen and Inverness; and we need our ports and airports better connected to the wider transport network. We know what needs to be done and, in many cases, there are plans in place to achieve it but we are hamstrung by unnecessary delays.
Our message to Scotland’s politicians as they enter the last Scottish Parliamentary session before the Scottish elections is to learn the lessons of past mistakes and accelerate the processes to help get Scotland moving forward.
Liz Cameron is chief executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce
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