Link road row rages on
Council rejects an amendment to remove plans
A bid to ditch plans for a Viewforth Link Road and the Kildean to Bridge of Allan corridor road has failed.
SNP councillor Gerry McLaughlan’s amendment seeking to remove all references to the two controversial routes in the Stirling Local Transport Strategy for 2017-2027 was rejected by nine votes to 12 at Stirling Council’s meeting last Thursday.
The LTS includes the KildeanAirthrey Link Road and the Viewforth Link Road projects that have been opposed by the Greens and the SNP since 2007.
The strategy has been out for public consultation in recent months for the first time since 2007.
Following questioning by Green councillor and MSP Mark Ruskell it was revealed by council officers that the LTS will increase carbon emissions across the Stirling area and that preparatory work on the Kildean-Airthrey Link Road will begin in 2017.
Officers said given the level of development planned for Stirling in the coming years there would be an inevitable increase in traffic and therefore carbon emissions.
Senior manager for infrastructure Brian Roberts said: “There is no way of achieving the growth of development Stirling is keen to achieve without an increase in traffic, but part of the City Deal is having lower emission, sustainable transport for example, so there will be efforts to control this.”
Councillor Ruskell voted with other opposition councillor to remove the two distributor road projects from the plan, but Labour and Tory councillors voted the plan through unamended. Councillor Ruskell said: “Stirling’s transport strategy is utterly incoherent. While it has some good ideas for encouraging walking, cycling and public transport, the massive ring road will lock in pollution and growth in car use for generations to come blighting surrounding communities.
“Stirling has a bright future of jobs and growth with the City Deal, but cities around Europe have shown that similar regeneration can be achieved without wrecking the local environment by building huge roads. The approval of the transport strategy has undermined the credibility of Stirling’s City Deal.
“There’s some very good ideas in the Transport Strategy but my impression is that in some aspects it lacks coherence and vision. It doesn’t know where it is going to end up.
“I want to see the strategy remitted back for further consideration and some clear direction without these distributor roads being at the heart of the plan.”
He added: “Labour and Tory councillors will now face the anger of voters at next year’s council elections who have seen their communities under siege from damaging developments in recent years.”
Labour councillor Danny Gibson said: “The Viewforth Link Road was of particular concern to people in Linden Avenue who were worried it could be a rat run, but facts show there will be a tiny increase in traffic compared with the overall benefits. The community gets it and understands it.
“This is an issue that has been brought up for political reasons before. The fact is the LTS is never going to be completely to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Tory councillor Neil Benny said he didn’t believe the council should “be at war with the car” and that they should enhance the accessibility of the area.
However, Councillor McLaughlan said: “From an engineer’s point of view I appreciate the amount of work that has gone into this plan and I have been careful with the amendments I have put forward. But what kind of Stirling do we want?
“These two link roads will produce an inner city link road. When you open a new road there’s always an increase in use.
“Do we really want an inner city distributor route? We know there’s pressure from our constituents not to support these two roads. They are not wanted.
“As councillors we have to provide a vision of what kind of Stirling we want. These link roads don’t contribute to a healthy Stirling.”
What kind of Stirling do we want? These link roads don’t contribute to a healthy Stirling