Conservative MSPs Brian Whittle and Finlay Carson have challenged SNP Transport Secretary Michael Matheson to commit to attending a conference in Stranraer to meet with road users, campaigners, businesses and ferry operators Stena Line and P&O.
The South Scotland MSP and the MSP for Galloway & West Dumfries have sent a joint letter to the Cabinet Secretary, urging him to find a date in the diary to attend a major transport conference.
Their call follows the postponement of the Transport conference due to be held in Stranraer on the October 11, after Mr Matheson was unable to attend, with organisers offering to rearrange for a later date that better suited him.
The letter stressed the importance of boosting the road infrastructure in the region and asked Mr Matheson to engage with campaign groups, such as Dual the A75 Group and the A77 Action Group to find a mutually agreeable date.
Commenting Brian Whittle MSP said:
“Having been working for improvements to roads in the South West since I was elected, I’m disappointed by the continuing lack of action from the Scottish Government.
“South West Scotland deserves the same kind of significant and sustained investment in roads that we’ve seen elsewhere in the country. Since the earliest days of the SNP Government, even before that, there have been promises of a plan for long term investment in the area and it’s never come to pass. In 2010, the then First Minister Alex Salmond promised the ferry operators action to improve the routes to their terminals, and now, almost a decade later, there’s still no sign of even a plan for action.
“These roads are vital to the local economy, the ferry operators and the thousands of people who use travel along them every day. It’s time for the Scottish Government to start delivering for road users in the South West and I hope, as a first step, the Transport Secretary will commit to coming to the rescheduled conference.”
Finlay Carson MSP said: “The urgent need to boost the road infrastructure in the south west of Scotland could not be more apparent.
“The A75 and A77 have suffered a lack of investment for far too long, which continues to harm the local economy.
“It was extremely disappointing that the Transport Secretary was unable to attend the much heralded Transport conference in October, which I believe has ultimately led to the postponement of this event.
“I would urge the Transport Secretary to engage once again with local campaign groups to find a date in his diary to enable the conference to go ahead. We need to get investment plans to upgrade the A75 and A77 laid out once and for all by this SNP Government.”
