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NEWS RELEASE
Wednesday 14th February 2007
Forth Road Bridge:
Still no evidence of need for second crossing
TRANSform Scotland have today (Wednesday 14th)
questioned the Scottish Executive's decision to announce its support for
a Second Forth Road Crossing. TRANSform Scotland regards this
as nothing more than political posturing in advance of May's Scottish
Parliament elections.
Colin Howden, Director of TRANSform Scotland, said:
"Today's announcement appears to be no more than a pre-election give-away
to Fife. This is not a sound basis on which to make investment decisions
of more than £1 billion.
"Nothing the Executive has published today demonstrates that the
existing bridge cannot be repaired. We require conclusive evidence on
this matter.
"If the Executive's engineering reports had concluded definitively
that the bridge cannot be repaired then we would have expected the Executive
to be shouting this from the rooftops. The absence of such material suggests
that there is no solid evidential base, at least at present, of the need
for a replacement.
"Should the existing bridge be beyond repair then of course action
will have to be taken to construct a replacement crossing.
"But any new crossing which provides additional capacity for car
commuting would be totally unsustainable, and would make a mockery of
the raft of commitments recently made on tackling climate change.
"Any replacement crossing must also be paid for by its users rather
than by the general taxpayer. Heavy Goods Vehicles have caused the damage
to the existing bridge, so the Executive should expect the road haulage
industry to pay for the construction costs of any new crossing. HGVs across
the Forth Road Bridge pay only £2.00 a trip, a pitiful sum compared
to the £15.30 paid by lorries on the Severn Bridge, and the £18.30
paid on the Humber Bridge."ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] TRANSform Scotland
TRANSform Scotland is the national sustainable transport campaign, bringing
together rail, bus and shipping operators, local authorities, national
environment and conservation groups, consultancies and local transport
groups - interested in transport, the environment and a sustainable Scotland.
We can be contacted at Lamb's House, Burgess Street, Leith, Edinburgh,
EH6 6RD. Tel 0131 467 7714; fax 0131 554 8656; email <info@transformscotland.org.uk>;
web <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk>.
[2] ForthRight Alliance
TRANSform Scotland is a member of the ForthRight Alliance <http://www.forthrightalliance.org/>.
Its briefing (published 13/02/07) is available at <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk/info/docs/2007-02-14_2FRB_briefing.pdf>.
END OF NEWS RELEASE
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