Shortfall in funds earmarked for Tay Cities Deal anger
Earlier this month I spoke in parliament in a debate on Scotland’s railways.
It is interesting that, although I represent one of the larger constituencies by geographic size, there is only one station – Gleneagles – within my whole constituency, although the old station buildings at Blackford have given way to a new freight terminal, taking Highland Spring’s bottled water distribution off the roads and I congratulated the company on taking this action in the face of the climate emergency.
Perth’s station, though just over the boundary in the Deputy First Minister’s constituency, is very important to my constituents and the Tay Cities Deal has committed £15 million towards a Perth Bus and Rail interchange – which will help link up these vital transport links and create a much more streamlined experience for customers with ongoing connections.
Having mentioned the Tay Cities Deal, I couldn’t let Tory members of the hook by failing to remind the chamber of the missing millions.
The initial understanding and expectation was for equal funding from both Scottish and Westminster Government’s – £200 million each – but the Westminster Tory government came up short.
A total of £50 million short, to be precise.
Indeed, in city region deals right across Scotland, the Scottish Government has committed more than the UK government.
Across the five city region deals, the UK government has come up short by over £410 million.
There’s a cost of the Union for you, right there.
Stations weren’t always to scare in my constituency.
Like many parts of the country, there are Station Roads in towns and villages that haven’t seen a train in my lifetime, near enough.
There was even once a station, apparently, in Perth’s Muirton district, set up to serve Muirton Park – St Johnstone’s old ground – and used only on matchdays!
But we can’t be harking back to pre-Beeching days when trains still ran on steam. We have to be wary of that romantic nostalgia. Many of the lines those old stations served are now long buried under motorways and schools, hospitals and housing estates.
The Scottish Government has, nevertheless, invested record levels to improve connectivity and increase the number of trains across Scotland’s rail network.
Since 2009, 14 communities across Scotland have been reconnected to the rail network with five more set to follow In the next three years.
And, yes, I would love to see the names of places in my constituency added to that list in the future.
The task of renewing and improving Scotland’s railways would be a whole lot easier if the whole rail network – infrastructure like, signals, tunnels and bridges – wasn’t still in the hands of the UK government. I want to see Network Rail in Scotland becoming fully accountable to people in Scotland.
It really is apparent that on almost every issue we debate in the parliament we see the cost of the Union to Scotland.
This devolved parliament is shackled – financially and functionally – from delivering the very best it could for the people of Scotland.