Greens call for SNP to halt climate wrecking A96 dualling project
There is no economic or environmental case for dualling the whole of the A96, says the Scottish Greens transport spokesperson Mark Ruskell ahead of a Ministerial Statement: on the upcoming A96 Corridor Review.
The A96 dualling project has been an SNP pledge since 2011, but only when the Scottish Greens were in government was a climate compatibility assessment secured to scrutinise the environmental impact of the plans.
“There is no economic or environmental case for dualling every square inch of the A96, and the SNP must accept this and halt the project.
“If the full dualling goes ahead, it will be incompatible with our goals to reduce the number of cars on our roads and cut climate emissions.
“We are already far behind where we need to be on our climate targets, and we cannot afford to pour billions of pounds into a project that will only push that target back even further if more cars are flying up and down the country.
“Some safety improvements and bypasses on the A96 are important, but the exorbitant sums set aside for fully dualling could be put to far better use by investing in these safety improvements and better public transport, which could cut our emissions rapidly and give people choices other than travelling by car across Scotland.
“The climate assessment is long overdue, but we know that no review worth the paper it's printed on would recommend ploughing ahead with such a climate wrecking project."
Mr Ruskell added:
“We badly need to cut the cost of public transport. The Scottish Government has just reintroduced peak rail fares, hiking up prices for workers and students who have no say over when they travel.
“The Scottish Greens are calling for them to end peak fares for good and introduce a £2 cap on bus fares. The government could do both of these for a fraction of the money it plans to spend on dualling the A96.”