NEWS RELEASE - Wednesday 6th February 2002

Wendy Alexander on transport: Executive's promises on public transport do not match commitments on road-building

Commenting on Transport Minister Wendy Alexander's statement on transport, TRANSform Scotland have contrasted the Scottish Executive's spending plans on road building with their failure to deliver on public transport.

Colin Howden, Campaign Manager of TRANSform Scotland, said: "The Scottish Executive has made promise after promise about improving public transport yet they have continually failed to deliver the level of investment seen in England, let alone the continent. If Wendy Alexander is committing the Scottish Executive to delivering major new investment in public transport - such as a tram system for Edinburgh - then this would be welcome. Over the past three years £500 million has been promised for new roads while the Public Transport Fund has just £50 million a year for all new public transport projects for the whole of Scotland." (1) (2)

"The Scottish Executive has put in place a grotesque road-building programme which is every bit as destructive as the one the Tories bulldozed through in the early 1990s. Wendy Alexander's enthusiasm for road-building reflects the folly of putting an Enterprise Minister in charge of transport. The Executive's £500 million road-building programme has simply taken us back to the discredited policy of 'predict and provide' road building."

TRANSform Scotland is calling on the Scottish Executive to direct its limited resources towards meeting its policy objectives - rather than just meeting the claims of vested interest industry groups. The Scottish Executive must specify targets for:

¥ road traffic levels (as a proxy for climate change emissions from transport)
¥ modal shift for passenger and freight traffic towards sustainable modes
¥ the service standards people should expect from transport
¥ physical accessibility to transport

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

(1) New road-building by the Scottish Executive since 1999:
M77 Fenwick-Malletsheugh - £60 million
A1 Haddington-Dunbar - £40 million
A78 Bypass of Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston - £33.1 million
A830 Arisaig - Kinsadel - £10.8 million
A96 Fochabers - Mosstodloch - £17.3 million
M74 Northern Extension - £250 million
A1 additions south of Dunbar - £11.4 million
A876 Kincardine Bridge - £60 million
Glasgow Southern Orbital road - £40 million

The total cost of these projects is £522.6 million. (References available on request.)

(2) New public transport from the Scottish Executive since 1999: The annual amount the Scottish Executive spends on the Public Transport Fund - which pays for all new public transport, walking, cycling & traffic calming improvements across Scotland - is £50 million a year.

Awards made by the Scottish Executive since 1999 have been as follows:
October 1999 - £26 million for 20 projects
November 2000 - £33 million for 19 projects
October 2001 - £75 million for 26 projects

The total cost of these projects is £134 million. (References available on request.)

NB: The Scottish Executive is due to spend just £75 million over the next two years of the Public Transport Fund.