Public inquiry survives frosty hearing
A petition pressing for a public inquiry into the political and financial management of the A83 Rest and be Thankful project remains alive - despite a less-than-warm reception from a Scottish Parliament committee.
Argyll and Bute councillors Dougie Philand and Donald Kelly have previously raised two petitions at the Scottish Parliament calling for a permanent solution at the Rest.
In their latest petition, they write: ‘This serious problem has been well documented over the years. The work by the Scottish Government to date, whilst welcome, has not and will not provide stability to the only lifeline road in and out of Argyll and it can be said confidently if the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh were to constantly be blocked it would not take 19 years to find a permanent solution.
‘Since the petitions were launched, with the backing of 10,000 signatures, the cost of the mitigation exercise has been in the region of £90 million since 2007 with no permanent solution in sight.’
Under discussion on Wednesday January 19 at the Scottish Parliament Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee, Mid Scotland and Fife Conservative MSP Alexander Stewart paid tribute to MSPs past and present who have worked ‘tirelessly’ on ‘an enormous issue for the local area’.
He continued: ‘I’m not sure where we can go, as a committee. A public inquiry would, I think, exacerbate the situation – it would take time.
‘There is a huge amount of frustration in the community and they want a solution. There are proposals coming forward. They might not please everybody but at this stage I’m not sure what more can be done.
‘I have some real concerns about how we take this forward.’
David Torrance, SNP member for Kirkcaldy and depute convener of the committee, said: ‘I have real doubts if we could take this petition forward. I don’t think the government would agree to it, but also, we have taken evidence for more than six years on this and been on site visits to see how difficult the terrain is.
‘There is not an easy fix for this and Transport Scotland has been working tirelessly, engaging with the local community, to try and find solutions.
‘It is a really difficult task to try and make that hill stable. They have put measures in place to catch a lot of the debris coming down, and the old military road is there as an alternative.
‘I think there is no place for this petition to go, and I’m quite happy to close it under rule 15.7 of standing orders.’
Committee convener Jackson Carlaw MSP concluded: ‘I don’t think we can have this petition run for six years in the way the previous one did, because I’m not sure what we would achieve, but we are in a new parliament and it would be useful to see what the position is.’
Addressing Councillors Philand and Kelly, he added: ‘To the petitioners, I don’t know that the committee is altogether persuaded by the public inquiry route.’
David Torrance ended with a request that the committee also asks the Scottish Government whether it will consider a public inquiry, which, he said would ‘...get a definitive answer on what the petition is calling for’.
Mr Carlaw concluded: ‘As Mr Stewart says, I think that is unlikely; that is my expectation.’
Councillor Philand said: ‘I’m glad they have kept it open.
‘We are unhappy that £87m has been spent of public money and so far no permanent solution. If the Scottish Government had invested in a permanent route in 2012, public money would have been well spent and we would have had a permanent solution.
‘If the panel believes there should be no inquiry about the management of £87m, I would have real worries.’
The Scottish Parliament Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will write to the Scottish Parliament on the matter.