Scotland must halt road-building and use public cash to benefit people and planet, campaigners argue

Environmentalists claim spending on roads projects is worsening poverty and the effects of climate change

All new road-building projects in Scotland should be halted immediately and a parliamentary inquiry into public spending on the schemes should be launched, according to green campaigners.

The call comes from Transform Scotland, an alliance of organisations advocating for sustainable travel, which has just published a new investigation into Scottish projects benefitting from City-Region Deals.

As part of the probe, the alliance uncovered data that shows nearly £1 billion of taxpayers’ money is being plunged into high-carbon transport projects, a move they say is worsening poverty and driving further climate breakdown.

Under the City-Region Deals, the Scottish and UK governments work with local authorities to jointly fund major initiatives based on regional priorities to speed up inclusive” growth.

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Six areas of Scotland qualify for funding – around Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Stirling, as well as the combined Tay cities of Dundee and Perth.

Collectively, the deals incorporate £4.6bn of spending.

More than £900m of public money has been earmarked for high-carbon transport projects, including the Cross Tay Link and upgrades to the A9, under the City-Region Deals. Picture: John Devlin

However, Transform Scotland has calculated that more than 70 per cent of the £1.3bn allocated for transport infrastructure investment – £900 million – is being spent on schemes with a large environmental footprint.

Transport is responsible for the biggest share of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions – 36 per cent – with no progress on reductions.

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National climate targets include reducing car use by 20 per cent by 2030 and reaching net zero emissions by 2045.

But the charity says the City-Regions spending contradicts these aims, while increasing traffic congestion and damaging public health.

High-carbon projects in the deals include: the £151m Cross Tay Link Road, near Perth; a new £107m roundabout at Sheriffhall, outside Edinburgh; large road-building projects to on the A9 and A96, in the north of Scotland; a £25m access to Aberdeen South Harbour; and a £10m Dundee Airport investment.

Meanwhile, the biggest low-carbon investment – in addition to small-scale active travel and public transport projects – is £139m for Glasgow’s Avenues scheme, which aims to transform the city centre into a people-focused area with better pedestrian and cycle facilities.

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The report, titled Dirty Deals, also found City-Region projects were developed with no carbon assessments or reference to Scotland’s climate targets, and flags a lack of transparency and data around the carbon impact of spending.​

Transform Scotland director Colin Howden said: “The City Deals provided an opportunity for transformational investment in transport in our cities, but local and national politicians have instead blown the cash on a new round of road-building that will inevitably generate more traffic and higher emissions.

“These politicians could have decided to reduce inequalities by investing in public transport and in our streets, but instead they decided to worsen inequalities and increase climate emissions by spending public funds on schemes that will further benefit the more affluent.

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“We’re fed up with Scotland’s political class mouthing empty platitudes about ‘net zero’ and ‘anti-poverty’ yet decade after decade making deliberate decisions to build new infrastructure that makes the country’s climate failure more and more certain.”

Transform Scotland is now calling for a Scottish parliament inquiry into the issue, road-building to be stopped and funding to be redirected to active travel and public transport.

The report comes after recent rollbacks on green initiatives by both the UK and Scottish governments.