Anger as A90 dualling north of Ellon is dismissed by the Scottish Government
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The Scottish Government has revealed it will not dual the A90 between Ellon and Peterhead after plans were rejected in favour of “climate change” measures.
North-east MSP Liam Kerr has branded the decision “deplorable” and said the route is being treated as the “forgotten road of Scotland” by the SNP.
In a response to a question from Mr Kerr at Holyrood today, transport minister Jenny Gilruth admitted that a plan to dual the road was considered in December but later thrown out after an “extensive evidence-based process”.
The revelation comes just two weeks after regional transport body Nestrans commissioned work to review and update previous studies on the A90(N) and A952 Ellon to Peterhead and Fraserburgh corridors.
Figures from Police Scotland show seven people have died and another 49 have been injured in collisions on the road north of Ellon over the last three years.
Mr Kerr also pointed to promises from the SNP dating as far back as 2007 when Alex Salmond said the first decision he would make if he got elected as First Minister would be to dual the road between Ellon and Peterhead, with a decision being made within 100 days of him gaining office.
Reacting to the announcement that dualling plans have now been rejected for the A90 north of Ellon, Liam Kerr MSP said: “I’m disgusted, angered and quite frankly appalled at the Scottish Government’s decision to reject plans to dual the road.
“Under this SNP Government, there is absolutely no question that the A90 between Ellon and Peterhead is Scotland’s forgotten road.
“We have had a terrifying number of collisions along the route including at the Toll of Birness, many of which have tragically resulted in lives being lost.
“But the SNP’s attitude towards the families and communities impacted by the treacherous state of this road is deplorable.
“Dualling the A90 would significantly improve safety while benefiting the economy to unprecedented levels.
“Residents were fed false promises by Alex Salmond back in 2007 and deserve better than to be treated as an afterthought.
“Yet despite such strong favour from the public for dualling the route, the SNP Government would rather focus on the Central Belt and kick an upgrade into the long grass to please their Green coalition partners.
“I await the results of the new Nestrans study and will present these findings to Jenny Gilruth to underline the necessity of dualling the A90 between Ellon and Peterhead.”
In her response, Jenny Gilruth said: “The second strategic transport projects review, the final report which was published in December last year, did consider proposals to dual the A90 North of Ellon.
“However after an extensive evidence-based process with substantial stakeholder and public consultation, dualling was not recommended.
“Instead measures to improve road safety, reliability and adapting the trunk road network to deal with the challenge of climate change were considered.”
Liam Kerr’s question today can be found below and viewed here at 11:52:00 https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/meeting-of-the-parliament-march-16-2023
“17 years after Alex Salmond promised the north-east that the first decision he would make on becoming First Minister would be to dual between Ellon and Peterhead.
“There’s nearly two decades of SNP inaction and lack of ambition on this forgotten road of Scotland which has seen seven deaths and 49 injuries on this stretch in the last three years.
“For the safety and economy of the north-east and to show this is a government for more than just the central belt, will the minister promise to at last dual this section of the A90?”
