Platform: Transport a priority, but rail link project is no longer affordable

Published on Sunday 11 October 2009 22:24

THE Scottish Government is ambitious in its aims to improve Scotland's economy and the prospects for its people.

We want to see continuing improvements in our transport infrastructure and in public services, in order to support economic recovery.

We are investing record levels in transport right across the country and Glasgow is reaping the benefits of that investment.

We're taking forward the M74 project at a cost of 690 million – the biggest project currently on the ground in Scotland.

We're also investing up to 1.05 billion in the Edinburgh-Glasgow Rail Improvement Programme, increasing the number of trains per hour between Glasgow and Edinburgh and reducing journey times.

Other Glasgow projects include the M80 Stepps to Haggs motorway at a cost of 320 million, the national indoor sports arena in Glasgow and the new Southern General Hospital in the city.

Education secretary Fiona Hyslop has also announced 300m of support through the Scottish Funding Council for the Glasgow colleges.

The scale of our ambition must be constrained, however, by the resources available to us and the need to deliver a sustainable budget, this year, next year and into the future.

For the first time since devolution the Scottish Government is facing a cut, in real terms, in the resources available to us.

It is in this context that we took the decision to cancel, with regret, the branch line element of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link project.

However, we are continuing to support the capacity and signalling improvements on the rail line between Glasgow and Paisley to improve services to the travelling public in the area.

And we will support other measures to improve public transport in Glasgow and the west of Scotland as part of the Fastlink initiative that addresses connections to the new Southern General Hospital and the Commonwealth Games site.

But against the backdrop of a 0.9 per cent real-terms cut in the Scottish budget, we can no longer afford to deliver a project involving costs that have now risen to 397.5m overall.

We recognise the disappointment this announcement has caused, which was voiced again in the pages of The Scotsman on Friday by Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell.

Disappointment should not be allowed to cloud the facts and it is a matter of indisputable fact that relocation costs at the airport, necessary to allow work to begin on the branch line, had increased by almost nine times since the original estimate, from 8m when the project was introduced, to 70m.

The Scottish Government is acting responsibly in the face of cuts imposed by Westminster.

We have published our draft budget to address the first real-terms cut in public spending in Scotland since devolution.

That budget focuses on frontline services, promoting economic recovery and protecting households at a time of economic hardship.

We have made clear that we will work with opposition parties to secure a Budget Bill that commands the support of Parliament.

If Steven Purcell wants the Glasgow Airport Rail Link project reinstated, then he must tell us what capital projects he would cut.

To date neither he nor any of the other opposition parties have offered a single alternative to this difficult decision.

&#149 Stewart Stevenson is the Holyrood transport minister