ForthRight Alliance NEWS RELEASE

Friday 29 April 2005

SECOND FORTH ROAD BRIDGE PLANS: GROUPS WELCOME RE-THINK:
Cost of new road bridge increases by 50% in just nine months

Campaigners against plans for a second Forth road bridge today (Friday 29 April) welcomed the recommendation from FETA officials that investment in public transport be prioritised over building a new bridge.

The FETA report, due to be considered by the Board of FETA today (Friday 29 April) reveals that the cost of the 'new bridge' strategy has increased from £700 million to £1039.9 million, a 50% increase since the Local Transport Strategy consultation was launched last August.

David McDonald, Spokesperson for the ForthRight Alliance, said:

"We welcome the recommendation from FETA's officials that the sustainable strategy should be fully implemented before there is any talk of a second Forth road bridge. When the last Forth road bridge plan was ditched a decade ago, we were promised that public transport investment would be the priority. Sadly, this did not happen. The challenge for the politicians running FETA is to deliver the sustainable alternatives to more road-building.

"The increase in the cost of the 'new bridge' option, in just nine months, from £700 million to over £1 billion demonstrates the massive cost associated with constructing a new bridge. Building a second Forth road bridge would be neither environmentally sustainable nor a sensible use of scarce public funds."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] The FETA report 'Item No 5 Draft Local Transport Strategy', due to be considered at the 29/04/05 FETA meeting, is available at http://www.feta.gov.uk/webpages/reports.php

[2] Campaign groups who successfully fought a Second Forth Road Bridge proposal ten years ago reformed in August 2004 to fight plans for a new crossing. The ForthRight Alliance reformed in response to the Forth Estuary Transport Authority's (FETA) decision to include a Second Forth Road Bridge option in its transport strategy. The campaigners propose that instead of

An additional road crossing FETA should be pursuing sustainable transport alternatives.

The groups back an alternative set of options ('Package 3') that would reduce traffic levels but not involve building a second Forth road bridge.

Alliance members currently include: RSPB Scotland, WWF Scotland, TRANSform Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Friends of the Earth Edinburgh, Friends of the Earth Fife, The Cockburn Association (The Edinburgh Civic Trust), The Civic Trust Scotland, Railfuture Scotland, SPOKES, CRAG, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Edinburgh and Lothians Greenbelt Network, Living
Streets Scotland, Scottish Association for Public Transport, SERA Scotland. Full list: http://www.forthrightalliance.org/members.html

[3] A consultation on FETA's Local Transport Strategy ended in September 2004. http://www.feta.gov.uk/

END OF PRESS RELEASE