Rest campaign seeks UK Government help
Argyll has huge significance to the UK economy and deserves a road network to allow it to thrive, writes Colin Cameron.
That was the message delivered to Iain Stewart, UK Government minister in Scotland, at a high-powered meeting last week to discuss the Rest and be Thankful.
Convened by John Gurr, chairman of the business-led Rest and be Thankful Campaign, the gathering in the George Hotel, Inveraray, included Argyll and Bute chief executive Pippa Milne, council leader Robin Currie, constituency MSP Jenni Minto, regional MSPs Rhoda Grant and Donald Cameron, and Brendan O’Hara MP.
In total the A83 at the Rest was closed for 200 days in 2020, with a 60-plus mile detour in place for more than a month. The estimated economic cost to Argyll and Bute in the eight months between August 4, 2020 and March 31, 2021 was £5.6 million.
The road’s unreliability, the minister heard, is a factor in population decline; impacts the area’s ability to fund services; and hampers Argyll’s ability to attract a workforce and keep local businesses viable. Mr Gurr said: ‘The A83 at the Rest has not been fully open without traffic lights since 2020, and traffic continues to be moved to the old military road detour, under traffic lights and convoy, when it rains.
‘When you drive past at 10mph, you’re thinking ‘‘will I get hit by a landslide’’. It’s scary. In 2013 Transport Scotland selected the ‘cheapest’ option from a 2012 report by Jacobs Engineering. Nine years and £80 million later they are still digging.’
The Scottish Government has committed to building a ‘permanent solution’ at the Rest, expected to take up to 10 years to complete. What is not clear is what solution it will adopt and when work will start. While transport is a devolved matter, the meeting on March 11 was intended to raise awareness within the Scotland Office of the importance of Argyll, and the A83, to the UK – and explore any support it could give to speeding up the process.
In 2021 the UK Government published a Union Connectivity Report – with Argyll conspicuous by its absence. Mr Gurr said: ‘I will be speaking with Scottish Transport Secretary Jenny Gilruth soon. The Rest and be Thankful, and the calls for urgency on the A83, will be high on our agenda.
‘Meanwhile, the UK Government will be looking at whether our Union Connectivity Review, Levelling Up Fund and Shared Prosperity Fund have potential for the Rest and be Thankful.’ z The A83 near Arrochar will be closed between 8pm and 5am for 10 nights from Sunday March 20 to April 1 to allow resurfacing. There will be amnesties at 9pm, 10pm, midnight, 2am and 4am and the road will not be closed on Friday and Saturday nights.