Scotland bypassed
SNP’s failure to upgrade A75 means goods go via England
GOODS worth billions of pounds are now being shipped between Northern Ireland and England as companies bypass Scotland over its crumbling roads system.
Firms say the SNP’s continuing failure to upgrade the A75 Euroroute between Cairnryan port near Stranraer, Wigtownshire, and on to Gretna, Dumfriesshire, means it makes more sense to move goods via English ports – despite a sea crossing three times as long.
The A75 carries around £17 billion of freight each year and is the main route from Belfast to mainland Britain and Europe.
But it is single carriageway for most of the 100 miles between Stranraer and Gretna and has a 40mph speed limit for heavy goods vehicles. Logistics companies say they can no longer use the road and operate viably.
Sarah Hards, sales director of Larne-based AM Logistics in Northern Ireland, said: ‘We now run about 20 per cent of our freight through Cairnryan but it used to be half until about a year ago when we had to start using Belfast to Heysham or Birkenhead instead.
‘We were running out of time using the A75. We move goods from Northern Ireland via Scotland to, for example, the English Midlands, and we want to do it and be back up through Cairnryan in a ten-hour window.
‘It could come to none of our freight going via Scotland.’
A report by the Department for Transport in November last year said that £46 million worth of goods move along the A75 every day yet it is one of the poorest sections of the UK transport network.
Sir Peter Hendy’s Union Connectivity review recommended that the UK Government should provide cash to improve it.
However, that led to accusations from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
of a ‘power grab’ by Westminster, as transport policy is devolved to Holyrood.
Ms Hards said: ‘One of the main issues with the A75 is that HGVs can only go at 40mph. We really want to see dualling of up to 40 to 50 per cent of the route, to make it better and safer for all road users.
‘Cairnryan is a major port and the roads which service it just aren’t good enough.’
Simon Palmer, Stena Line’s Irish Sea spokesman, said: ‘You can drive from Belfast all the way to Cork on the southern coast of Ireland on dual carriageway. But as soon as you get off our ferry at Cairnryan you are out of a 21st Century port and onto a 20th Century road. We need to put politics aside and work to improve this vital route.’
A Transport Scotland spokesman said plans for future investment were set out in the recent Strategic Transport Projects Review.
This recommends several A75 upgrades, including bypassing the Kirkcudbrightshire villages of Crocketford and Springholm.
The spokesman added: ‘This is in addition to four separate schemes on the A77 and six new schemes on the A75 since 2007.’
A Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘The Government is carefully considering the Union Connectivity review’s recommendations.’