A96 dualling delays: SNP accused of 'kicking can down the road'
No update on upgrade plans due until January
Ministers have been accused of “kicking the can down the road” for the lack of progress on dualling the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness since pledging the upgrade 14 years ago.
The SNP had said the remaining 86 miles of the trunk road would be dualled by 2030 at an estimated cost of £3 billion - which has since increased to £5bn.
However, construction has yet to start and the completion target was abandoned a year ago.
The project was largely put on hold as part of an SNP-Scottish Greens power-sharing deal in 2021 which ended last year, although dualling between Inverness-Nairn is being progressed.
An update on the scheme is not now expected until January - seven months after a report into a consultation on the project was published, which showed 63 per cent backing for full dualling.
North East Scotland Scottish Conservatives MSP Douglas Lumsden challenged John Swinney to announce a timetable for improvements at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday.
He said: “Since the SNP first promised to dual the A96 under Alex Salmond’s government in 2011, there have been no less than 16 transport secretaries and ministers, all of whom have kicked the can down the road.”
Mr Lumsden called on Mr Swinney to “stop playing games with the lives of motorists in the north east and finally honour his party’s 2011 promise of fully dualling the A96.”
The First Minister said the Scottish Government remained committed to fully dualling the road and a “range of different measures had been taken by ministers to address the issues of safety on the A96”.
However he also said: “I recognise there remains significant challenges there, but ministers are fully engaged with that particular question.”
Mr Swinney said the consultation report, published in June, would “help to inform the final decision on how best to take forward improvements, while recognising the current economic challenges.
“Future decisions will be shaped by available and planned budgets, which will be influenced by the UK Government’s autumn Budget [on November 26] and the forthcoming Scottish Government infrastructure investment plan.”
He said the plan, to be published in January, would set out “the issues that we can take forward within the current fiscal context”.
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