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Scottish Executive Reporter for A78 Bypass public inquiry referred to Audit Scotland A coalition of environment and transport groups - TRANSform Scotland, the Scottish Association for Public Transport and Friends of the Earth Scotland - today announced that they have requested that the Audit Scotland's Director-General Robert Black urgently initiate a pre-construction audit of the proposed A78 Three Towns Bypass of Ardrossan/Saltcoats/Stevenston (1). The groups are concerned that the Reporter's recommendation to approve construction of the proposed bypass is contradicted by the findings of the Report of the Public Local Inquiry submitted to the Scottish Executive, and that the Report itself contains a series of factual errors and omissions. Tom Hart, Vice-President of SAPT & Board Member of TRANSform Scotland, said: "The Report makes it clear that the Three Town Bypass would have a limited impact on the local economy and would do little to improve safety, social inclusion or the environment. The Reporter's decision to recommend approval for this wasteful and damaging project will starve Ayrshire of funding for more sensible public transport schemes and smaller scale road improvement and traffic calming projects." "This project fails to meet the audit requirements and contradicts the transport strategy objectives of the Scottish Executive. It is important that Audit Scotland carries out an audit of major spending decisions to check that that they deliver policy objectives before contractual commitments for spending are completed." ENDS Notes to Editors: (1) "The Case for a Pre-construction Audit" is available on request. END OF NEWS RELEASE |