Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Bill Committee, 18 Apr 2006

Meeting date: Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Official Report 88KB pdf

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Interests

I was going to say that I am delighted to convene the first meeting of the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Bill Committee. However, I do not know whether I am that delighted, given that I am in the chair only in my capacity as the oldest committee member.

I welcome members, the press and the public to the meeting. I promise that, despite strictures, I will refer for the first and last time to the Borders rail link only in order to make the point that I hope that this committee does not have such an onerous task before it. I remind members to switch off mobile phones and pagers.

I invite members to make a declaration of any interests, which is a statutory requirement. I remind members that it would be advisable for them to err on the side of caution by declaring any interest that would prejudice or give the appearance of prejudicing their ability to participate in a disinterested manner in the committee's proceedings. I commend the use of the word disinterested, which is so often confused with uninterested, in the appropriate form.

Before I invite members to declare any interests, I note that standing orders also require them to declare that they will act impartially in their capacity as members of the committee and that they will base their decisions solely on the evidence and information that are provided to the committee. I ask each member to declare any interests for the record.

I have no specific interests to declare in respect of the bill. I mention briefly that in the past, both as a former councillor and as a member of the Parliament, I have indicated support for the general principle of having a rail link to Edinburgh airport, but not for any particular route, especially from Fife. I will consider the bill impartially and will base my decisions on it only on the evidence that is presented to the committee.

You have certainly erred fully on the side of caution.

I have no interests to declare. I undertake to act impartially when listening to the evidence that is put before the committee.

I ask members to bear with me. If members have read the promoter's memorandum, they will be aware that my name appears in appendix 8. Four or five months ago, before the introduction of the bill, tie Ltd provided me, as a Fife MSP, with a briefing on the EARL proposal and what tie perceived to be the benefits of the scheme. At the time, I noted that it was an interesting project but that, as with many things, the devil would be in the detail. Most of the contents of the briefing appear in the bill and its accompanying documents. Since the briefing, I have not entered into any correspondence or dialogue with the promoter or any other person in relation to the scheme. I retain an open mind on the scheme and, like all other members of the committee, will be informed by the evidence and information that is provided to us.

I know of no interests that I need to declare. I, too, will be impartial when considering the evidence.

I, too, declare that I will act impartially. Apart from the other railway that may link up to EARL and that I will not mention again, I have no interests to declare.