How bridging the gap can help boost Scots economy
THE good citizens of Argyll are getting rather fed up with effectively being cut off by the never-ending closures of the A83 as a result of repeated landslides at the Rest And Be Thankful. A 60-mile detour puts off all but the most determined and business at shops, restaurants and hotels plummets as a result.
The tedious thing about this seemingly endless problem is that to everybody in Argyll – but not the Scottish Government – the solution is blindingly obvious. Mother
Nature will keep on hurling rocks and mud down the slope towards the road and trying to catch this debris in nets is a King Canute solution that has not worked and will never work.
The Government should take a well-earned holiday to the Alps and look at what they do there.
Instead of fighting nature (it always wins), the Swiss go with the flow and cover their vulnerable roads with roofs so that rocks and mud can go over the top of them rather than blocking them and causing chaos. This solution is not rocket science and the Government should stop flouncing around worrying about Brexit and instead get its cement mixers out and get some real work done.
The A83, a vital transport artery that switches on or off the flow of economic activity into a significant part of Argyll, got me thinking about what we can do to break through the overdone Brexit gloom and get things – literally – motoring again, as well as demonstrate that the more geographically peripheral economics of the UK are important.
The answer is a bridge from Scotland to Northern Ireland. Difficult and costly, yes – but far from impossible and, most certainly, economically transformational.
The Chinese and other nations, such as those in Scandinavia, build bridges that are a greater challenge than crossing the 20-odd mile gap between Galloway and Ulster. The UK Government is sufficiently satisfied the £15 billion spent on London’s Crossrail line is worthwhile that it is planning Crossrail 2. The HS2 rail project is now estimated to cost more than £50b.
Why should the South of England get all the money spent on it?
A Scotland-ulster Bridge, has been estimated (more of a guess I suspect) to cost between £15bn and £20bn. But think of the political and economic gains.
Scotland benefits from being part of Britain but even I get fed up with vast dollops of money being spent in the South compared to the North – Crossrail, Crossrail 2, HS1, HS2, another runway at Heathrow, London sewers, etc.
The message a really bold and significant project would send to the people of Scotland and Northern Ireland would be enormous – we care, you matter, you are a vital part of the nation, is what it would say.
Dumfries & Galloway is not an economically strong part of Scotland. Northern Ireland is dependent on UK Government spending to a very unhealthy extent. A bridge and linking motorways would be transformational to both those regional economies and all of Scotland. Subsidies would reduce over time; Scotland and Northern Ireland could work as an integrated economic unit that would be good for each of them, as well as providing an economic strength and opportunity that would be a meaningful step in addressing the unhelpful Southern bias of economic vitality within the UK.
The Scottish Government should support such a project, but it should be the whole of the UK that funds it. There has never been a better time to stop point-scoring and work together on a project like this.
Other nations build bridges that are a greater challenge