Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Meeting date: Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Official Report 1084KB pdf

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A77 and A75 Infrastructure and Connectivity

The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-10634, in the name of Sharon Dowey, on local infrastructure and rural connectivity on the A77 and A75. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the significance of developing local roads and enhancing rural connectivity, particularly in relation to the A77 and A75; considers that well-connected road networks play an essential role in fostering economic growth and rural development; emphasises the impact of what it sees as inadequate infrastructure on rural livelihoods; believes that the A77 and A75 are vital transportation routes connecting various regions along the west coast of Scotland, including the South Scotland region; notes the view that it is important to improve the condition, capacity, and safety features of the A77 and A75; believes that the development of local roads, such as the A77 and A75, is crucial in improving rural connectivity and access to essential services; notes the view that the Scottish Government should explore funding opportunities to support the development of local roads and rural connectivity, while recognising that such investments will, it believes, yield long-term benefits; further notes the view that MSPs should promote what it sees as the importance of rural connectivity and local road development, and believes that roads such as the A77 and A75 are critical roads for fostering regional growth, developing Scotland’s rural communities, supporting tourism, and enhancing the overall wellbeing of the people that they serve.

17:48  

I have brought the debate to the chamber in the hope that it will spur the Scottish National Party Government into action to improve the A77 and A75. The Government appears to have forgotten the importance of good local roads. It does not seem to be focused on improving critical infrastructure, and it does not put growing Scotland’s economy at the top of its list of priorities. Too often, it neglects rural areas and places outside the central belt.

With regard to the A77 and A75, the SNP has been in power for almost 17 years but, in all that time, the Government has not been ambitious enough. It has never had the vision to rejuvenate the South Scotland economy by investing enough in the roads, and it has left the region behind in the process. It has not recognised that well-connected road networks play an essential role in fostering economic growth and rural development. It has never accepted the consequences of inadequate infrastructure for rural livelihoods. It has not realised that development of the A77 and A75 is crucial in improving rural connectivity and access to essential services.

In January, the A77 action group wrote to the then Minister for Transport to sum up how local people are feeling. I could not agree more with what the group said. It wrote:

“as an area, we feel that we are the Forgotten, Ignored, Neglected, and Deprived corner of Scotland.”

Having lived in Ayrshire all my life, I feel that that is spot on. Today, therefore, I hope that we can find some cross-party consensus to finally change that. I hope that, today, the Parliament will make a commitment to improve the A77 and A75. Those roads need investment, and they need it now.

It is not only my Scottish Conservative colleagues who are making that point. This year, the East Ayrshire Council leader, Douglas Reid, said that Transport Scotland’s decision not to prioritise the Bellfield interchange for almost 20 years was “scandalous”. That is the verdict of an SNP councillor. My colleague Brian Whittle will mention that in his contribution.

I have been talking about the A77 since my maiden speech in the Parliament. The A77 connects the central belt to Northern Ireland, so improvements on that road will impact not only the south-west of Scotland but central belt businesses that send their products to Northern Ireland. That is why more central belt MSPs should be in the chamber today, calling for improvements. Every MSP should be shocked that it takes an average of 69 minutes to travel along a 43-mile stretch of road. That makes the A77 the slowest A-road in the country, with an average speed of just 37.7mph. We cannot, therefore, have any more deflections from the Government, which has dodged responsibility and shifted the blame.

There are so many potential benefits of improving both roads. It would increase safety and reduce the number of accidents, improve journey times and reduce carbon emissions. It would open up the beautiful south-west to more tourism, and it would create jobs and mean that our economy could grow more quickly. What incentive is there to start a business near the slowest A-road in the country? What incentive is there for people to move to the area when it takes so long to get to work?

Improving the A77 and A75 would be a game-changer for Ayrshire and the south of Scotland, but we need urgent action now in order to realise the benefits. We need more constructive work with the United Kingdom Government to speed up the feasibility study on the A75 bypassing of Springholm and Crocketford. We need to fast-track the improvements to both roads and look at the feasibility of fully dualling the A77.

Today, I was notified about essential structural waterproofing that will start tomorrow on the A77 at Burnfoot bridge. The work will last for seven days and will involve a full road closure over the weekend, which will impact about 4,000 vehicles a day. That will force heavy goods vehicles on to smaller B-roads, thereby increasing journey times, impacting businesses and putting pressure on the roads themselves. That would not be the case if the road was fully dualled.

We know that a better road would increase economic growth and improve our public services and connectivity, but it is about so much more than businesses and the economy; it is about saving lives. It is estimated that there is a casualty every three days on these roads. Michaela Yates lost her partner of 35 years, Tony Sheil, in a crash on the A75. Recently, she told the press:

“I don’t want any other family to go through what me and my daughters are still going through because of neglect towards the road.”

Tony left behind two daughters, Samantha-Jane and Natasha. They recently said:

“Our dad, our best friend died on the A75 that night after finishing work. He never got to say goodbye to us, and we never got to say goodbye to him. That will always hurt.”

They have also said that the road is “not fit for purpose”. Tony’s partner and his daughters are right. That is a heartbreaking example, but it is not the only one.

My colleague Finlay Carson is unable to be in the chamber today, and I wish him a speedy recovery. He has been raising the need for upgrades on the A75 for years, and he wanted to highlight today the fact that, only two weeks ago, two more fatalities were reported on that road. On Monday, there was another crash, which left three people in hospital. Tragically, there are hundreds of families in a similar position, having lost loved ones on the A75 and A77. The human cost of delays and inaction is terrible. It is leaving families suffering in pain that will never heal.

The Parliament and the Scottish Government cannot allow that to continue. For all the families who have lost loved ones and for everyone who drives on those roads every day, the Parliament and the Government must act now.

17:55  

I thank Sharon Dowey for bringing the debate to the chamber. I think that all of us, as MSPs who represent south-west Scotland, have either raised the issue in debates previously or asked the Scottish Government questions on the need for improvements to those main arterial routes, the A75 and the A77. The A75 is part of a 95-mile long Euro route, which is fundamental to the UK’s connectivity and our wider access to Europe.

Fundamentally, it is time that we see much-needed upgrades to improve safety and efficiency. I pay tribute to the A75 and A77 action groups. Their continued campaigning efforts cannot be overplayed. It is vital to note that there have been fatal accidents on the road, as Sharon Dowey said. That includes two very recent accidents on the A75 in as many months. We now have a wife and two daughters without a husband and a father, and, as a result of the other accident, near Annan, we have a community that is devastated by the loss of a friend. My thoughts and my condolences go to the families.

We have commitments from both Governments, but the focus now must be on transforming those commitments into action as quickly as possible. I made that clear at the recent south-west Scotland transport alliance summit in Stranraer, which was held on 29 January at the North West Castle hotel. The summit was attended by MSPs and by representatives from the ferry companies Stena Line and P&O and from Belfast Harbour. There were also national health service representatives there, as well as Dumfries and Galloway and South Ayrshire council leaders. There was a consensus from all those in attendance on the absolute need for road upgrades. I know that my colleague Elena Whitham, who has attended our joint meetings on the issue, agrees that there is a critical need for road improvements.

In 2022, the Scottish Government published its second strategic transport projects review, which states that the A75 and A77 will benefit from

“improving junctions, enhancing overtaking opportunities ... or climbing lanes ... where slow moving traffic leads to risky overtaking manoeuvres, and widening or realigning carriageways to alleviate ‘pinch points’”.

Those recommendations will bring the change for which constituents have long been calling. However, the issue now is funding. The Scottish Government continues to operate in a tight economic situation—[Interruption.] I will not take any interventions, because I have only four minutes.

The Scottish Government continues to operate in a tight economic situation, with a budget that is handed to us without the ability to commit to huge infrastructure spending. That means that it is necessary for the UK Government to provide funding to ensure that the upgrades progress. That was acknowledged in the final report of the UK Government-commissioned union connectivity review.

Since the publication of STPR2 and the “Union Connectivity Review: Final Report”, progress has been made. I welcome that the Scottish and UK Governments have been working together, and I welcome collaborative engagement to explore the options for making funding available. The Scottish Government has secured £8 million from the UK Government for a feasibility study on creating bypasses for Springholm and Crocketford villages. Again, I ask the Cabinet Secretary for Transport to provide exact timescales for when the STPR2 commitments will be enacted.

In addition to the need for improvements for better safety and efficiency, I seek further clarity on the strong economic case that the central belt benefits from the connectivity to Northern Ireland. I have written to Transport Scotland to seek an update on figures and travelling patterns for cars and HGVs, so that we can show that other parts of Scotland benefit from A77 connectivity and that it is important for goods and services.

Just this week, my office has been in touch with Gist logistics, a major distribution hub in Motherwell that employs more than 2,500 people. Gist has stated how important the A77 is as part of its distribution network. The economic importance of both roads cannot be overplayed, and I ask the cabinet secretary for a commitment that the Scottish Government recognises that.

In conclusion, I ask the Government to do all that it can to get shovels in the ground on the A75 and A77 to deliver those much-needed improvements.

17:59  

I start by congratulating my colleague Sharon Dowey on bringing the debate to the chamber. I make it that every South Scotland MSP has now initiated a debate on this topic. As my colleague has said, Fin Carson is not particularly well, but he is well enough to have penned a few lines and, with your indulgence, Deputy Presiding Officer, I will read them out during my speech.

For as long as I have been in this place, the issue of the A75 and A77 upgrades has been debated, always with assurances from the Scottish Government. There is a long-standing petition with the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee that continues to press the Government to act. The reality of those routes is highlighted when we realise that 60 per cent of the goods going into and coming out of Ireland come through the port of Cairnryan. It is the third-biggest port in the UK, and it links Ireland to the south, to England, and north, to the central belt. That is under threat from the Dublin to Holyhead route. There is now a motorway between Belfast and Dublin, and there is dual carriageway from Holyhead, so the difference in the time that it takes to get goods south is now only 44 minutes. Ferry operators at the conference that we attended told us that they will not now invest in new upgraded and bigger ferries directly because of the state of the infrastructure in the south-west.

The situation goes back to 2010, when Alex Salmond, in opening the port of Cairnryan following £240 million of investment, assured the ferry operators that the Scottish Government would invest in the A75 and the A77. In 2011 Alex Neil became Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment, and he said that it was a disgrace that Labour had not upgraded those roads during its time in government.

One of the first meetings that I had when I came into the Parliament was in Dumfries, with Humza Yousaf and John Swinney, listening to more than 100 people in a room. They listened, and they took away the points that were made. Since then, we have had Derek Mackay, Michael Matheson and Jenny Gilruth. They have all listened, but none has acted. The reality is that, since 2010, only 0.04 per cent of the transport spend has been in the south-west.

My colleague Sharon Dowey mentioned the Bellfield interchange. I remember contacting Transport Scotland about it right at the start, and I highlighted the fact that traffic was queuing off the Bellfield interchange on to the M77. Transport Scotland agreed with me that having traffic queuing on the M77 was dangerous, but all that has been done is for a sign to be erected, saying “Queuing traffic ahead”. More than 40 per cent of the vehicles that go into North Ayrshire go through the Bellfield interchange, so it is a really important interchange. For as long as I have been in here—and longer ago, as others have told me—members have been lobbying the Government to do something about the interchange, but nothing has happened. For all that time, those routes could and should have been improved. Now that the clamour over the A9 is taking over all the headlines, I fear that the south-west will once again be pushed to the side and ignored.

My colleague Finlay Carson, the MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, cannot be here today, but he has been one of the driving forces in the campaign to have the A75 upgraded and essentially made fit for purpose for this day and age. Having lived in the shadow of the A75 for most of his life, he knows only too well the importance of improving the road safety record and of the reliability and resilience of the key arteries that serve the ports of Cairnryan. Granted, progress is now slowly being made, with the UK Government committing to providing £8 million towards a detailed study to identify options for the realignment of the A75 around Springholm and Crocketford. Along with Transport Scotland, it will consider the delivery of other targeted improvements along the A75 to alleviate various pinch points, as well as targeting the notorious Haugh of Urr road end.

The growing urgency of the need for improvements cannot be emphasised enough. Only last week, two more fatalities were reported on the A75. This time, a 41-year-old woman who grew up in Wigtownshire lost her life, along with a 35-year-old van driver. That came after Finlay Carson had highlighted another tragedy in the chamber earlier this month, when he spoke about the death of Tony Sheil following a collision with an HGV in November 2023. Finlay recalled meeting Tony’s widow, Michaela Yates, and their two daughters, Samantha-jane and Natasha, who have now launched a petition demanding that average speed cameras be introduced along the Euro route. We know that average speed cameras have been deployed on other dangerous roads such as the A77 and the A9 and they have brought immediate improvements to road safety.

I know that the Cabinet Secretary for Transport has already given a commitment to examine their introduction on the A75. I strongly urge her to ensure that that happens sooner rather than later, in order to avoid another family having their lives torn apart. The transport secretary has rightly said that

“Any tragedy ... is one tragedy too many”.—[Official Report, 8 February 2024; c 58.]

Will she now deliver on that promise?

Talk is cheap, and the south-west is no longer the forgotten part of Scotland, but the ignored part. In order to halt the migration of people from their rural communities to urban Scotland, and to raise average earnings in the area, which are the lowest in Scotland, we need connectivity to encourage businesses and enterprise into the area. In turn, that can persuade people to stay. So far, however, that realisation seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

18:05  

I thank Sharon Dowey for lodging her motion. This is not the first debate that we have had on the A75 and A77, and, to be frank, it will not be the last, because we know what the cabinet secretary’s response will be today. There is currently no delivery plan from the Scottish Government, even for the modest and inadequate improvements that are proposed for both roads in STPR2. There is no timeline for the feasibility study on the A75, and the £8 million for the study has not been received from the UK Government. Not a single penny has been committed by either Government to delivering a single major improvement to either of the roads.

Last month, many members in the chamber attended the summit that was organised by the south-west Scotland transport alliance in Stranraer. There was anger among the ferry firms, businesses, the community, the council, the health board and politicians across parties at the utter lack of action from the Government. However, there was also a determination that we are not going to sit back and let that summit be another groundhog day. The case for making those crucial arteries safer, greener and better is clear, and that has never been more important.

I will read out some comments that Samantha-Jane Sheil, a constituent of mine, made to me recently. She said:

“On the 24th November my dad Tony was involved in a collision with an HGV on the A75. He was pronounced dead at the scene. He was just 3 minutes away from home. No daughters should carry their dad’s coffin at just 19 and 16. He shouldn’t have missed my 20th birthday in January. My dad didn’t deserve what happened to him. Just like everyone else who has died on this road”.

Every three days, there is a casualty or an injury on the A75 or A77. There have been 564 in just five years. Whether those involved are driving a car or a truck or riding a bike, too many lives are being lost, and many more will be lost unless we invest to make those roads safer.

As well as putting the safety case for improvements, we also need to nail the myth that investing in improving those roads would be bad for the environment. One haulier reported that its emission data shows that, on average, lorries on those roads emit two tonnes more CO₂ every day than they would on a dual carriageway. Does anyone really think there is anything green about 40-tonne wagons rattling past the front doors of homes in Crocketford or Springholm on the A75, or in Lendalfoot, Minishant, Kirkoswald, Turnberry, Girvan and Ballantrae on the A77? Those villages have not been bypassed on what are supposed to be key trunk roads and the route to Northern Ireland.

We also know that it is better for the environment to ship freight by sea than to do so by air, by having freight traffic from Scotland use Cairnryan rather than travelling further, but sometimes more quickly, to ports in the north of England. The fact that the A75 and the A77 are too slow and too unreliable is damaging not just to the south-west economy, but to Scotland’s economy as a whole.

The majority of the 400,000 freight vehicles and 1.75 million passengers per year who travel through Cairnryan come not from Ayrshire or Dumfries and Galloway, but from the central belt and the north of England. When the average speed on the A77 between Ayr and Cairnryan is just 37.7mph, and 44.9mph on the A75 between Gretna and Cairnryan, that stifles our economy and holds back businesses across the country.

The Government’s current plan—or rather, the lack of one—is not good enough. Every day, those roads are becoming less safe, less green and less economically efficient. I finish with another quote from Tony’s daughter. She said:

“Our dad, our best friend died on the A75 ... We don’t want any other family to go through the pain we are going through”.

Sadly, however, that is happening to too many families.

When I last raised the issue in the Parliament, I asked the cabinet secretary to meet campaigners such as the A77 and A75 action groups. I hope that she will do so and will listen to why the Government’s current plans are simply not good enough for the communities that we represent.

18:10  

I thank Sharon Dowey for securing the debate. However, it is rather a shame that we need to have it, because, as Colin Smyth said—and I agree with him—we have had it before and, sadly, will probably have it again and again, because there has been a total lack of action to improve those roads.

Sharon Dowey started her speech by calling for good local roads. The A75 and A77 are local roads, but they are more than that—they are of national importance, as other speakers have said. I speak as a central belt MSP; Sharon Dowey called for central belt MSPs to take part in the debate. Those roads, given their importance and how they connect to Northern Ireland, are of national significance.

In my region, particularly in Lanarkshire, a number of haulage logistics companies, to which I have spoken, have vehicles that, usually, travel along the A77 to reach Ireland. As soon as anything goes wrong on that road, their deliveries are impacted. For example, if they are bringing goods from Ireland to Scotland and something goes wrong on the A77 or the A75, those goods do not get to market, and Scotland’s economy is affected.

Improving those roads is therefore vital, and we need an action plan from the Scottish Government. It is responsible for roads in Scotland, so it needs to come up with a plan and say when those roads will be improved.

I welcome the fact that the UK Government has offered money to fund a study relating to the A75. That is good, but it is not enough. We need a timetable of when things will happen, because that is what the communities that are served by those roads need.

Road safety is a huge issue. There have been too many accidents and too many deaths on those roads. Sadly, that will continue until improvements are made. I say to Brian Whittle that that will continue on the A9, as well, until improvements are made on that road. I will not get into the game of trading off one road against another—as, I am sure, Mr Whittle was not doing—but key roads across Scotland require investment and are not getting it.

I again thank Sharon Dowey for securing the debate, but it should not be necessary, and I hope that we will not be here again. We need to hear today from the cabinet secretary about what she is going to do.

18:13  

I express my sympathies in respect of anyone who has been killed or injured on our roads, and our thoughts are with the families and friends of those involved in recent incidents, including the serious accident that occurred on Monday on the A75 near Newton Stewart.

I have listened closely to the discussion, and I fully appreciate that members wish to see action on improvements to both the A75 and the A77. Investment in both roads is crucial for improving rural connectivity and access to essential services. That is reflected in recommendation 40 of STPR2.

I will set out the progress that the Government has made to date and what we plan to do. This financial year alone, we will deliver vital structural maintenance worth more than £3 million on the A75 and resurfacing works worth £1.4 million on the A77.

Since 2007, we have completed five major improvements on the A77, including, most recently, the £29 million Maybole bypass, which opened in January 2022. In their remarks, the Conservatives ignored that major project, and it is wrong to say that there has been a lack of action.

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

Let me continue.

The Government is entirely committed to improving safety and resilience on those routes. Since 2015, we have spent more than £85 million on the maintenance of the A75 and A77, in addition to other works. That is more than £170 million of road investment. I add that the 2024-25 budget includes a 31 per cent increase in the trunk road maintenance budget.

Earlier this year, on 5 February—the same day that the south-west Scotland transport alliance wrote to me—I raised the need for further discussion on improving connectivity with Northern Ireland, with Lord Davies of Gower at the transport interministerial group. As members know, the A75 and A77 are important connections in the flow of goods and people between key economic centres. The Northern Irish minister was not in attendance at the interministerial group meeting as he had just been appointed that day, but I requested that we discuss the matter at a future meeting, when he can attend.

The Scottish and UK Governments agree that investment is required on the A75—that is not disputed. I confirm that, in December, the Scottish Government secured a commitment from the UK Government for multiyear funding of £8 million to improve the A75. In the short term, that funding is essential in making demonstrable progress on the A75. It will cover the design, development and assessment of options for improvements to the A75, specifically around Crocketford and Springholm, up to the announcement of a preferred route. For a variety of statutory-driven reasons, such work can take a number of years.

Although funding has been confirmed, it has not yet been allocated or received. My officials are working with the UK Government on the matter, and only once that work has been completed will we be able to set a draft timetable. Nevertheless, we are taking every step necessary to have the work ready to commence in the next financial year. Work to prepare procurement documents to appoint a technical adviser has begun, and, once funding formalities are complete, we will immediately progress that.

Although the funding for the A75 is welcome, the fact remains that Scotland is facing—

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

I will, if it is very brief.

It must surely be possible for the cabinet secretary to set out a rough timescale, because that is what people need to know. They want to know when the work will actually start. When will that happen?

As he is the Conservative transport spokesperson, the member will know that there are steps that need to be taken, including going through regulatory and statutory processes, which might be subject to legal challenge and so on. As, I think, the member genuinely understands, it would be disingenuous for me to set out a timetable.

The UK Government has not inflation proofed its capital budget, which is forecast to result in a 9.8 per cent real-terms cut in our capital funding over the medium term. Therefore, we are having to make tough decisions on our infrastructure projects pipeline.

I will talk about the wider road safety concerns that have been raised. We are committed to achieving safer road travel for all road users in Scotland, now and in the future. Only this morning, I attended a road safety summit in Edinburgh, where I was clear that road safety remains an absolute priority for the Scottish Government. I am determined that we continue to make investments that support our road safety framework to 2030. That is why we have earmarked a record £36 million for road safety in the next Scottish budget.

As part of our commitments to casualty reduction, to reduce the risk of accidents and to manage traffic speeds, significant investment has been made on the A75 and A77 over recent years, and a route study will be carried out for the A75 in 2024-25 to investigate route-wide collisions and risk-reduction measures.

In addition, we are exploring potential safety enhancements on the A75 at both the Haugh of Urr and Twynholm junctions, with delivery planned in 2024-25, subject to funding. Partial signalisation is currently being designed for Cuckoo Bridge roundabout to address a recent history of accidents at that location. Construction is programmed for the next financial year.

On the A77, improvements were delivered at the A751 junction. Improvements are also being delivered in Girvan to support casualty reduction, speed management and active travel. Those will be completed before the end of the year. Similar schemes are planned for Kirkoswald and Ballantrae.

Further road safety investigations are planned between the Bellfield and Grassyards junctions and on sections of the A77 around the Holmston and Dutch House roundabouts.

One of the key technologies that we have for helping with road safety is safety cameras. Across Scotland, we deploy cameras through the Scottish safety camera programme, primarily where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury and collisions, and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding.

A mobile safety camera enforcement strategy is in place along the length of the A75. It covers 17 locations, and safety camera resources are regularly deployed along the route to encourage good driver behaviours and compliance with the speed limit. The change in driver behaviour is reflected in the 73 per cent reduction in the total number of casualties on the route over the past three years, when compared with the three-year period before the enforcement strategy was in place.

An average-speed camera system has been in operation on the A77 since 2005. It was upgraded in 2016 and extended in 2021 from Whitletts to Bankfield.

As with all safety camera sites across Scotland, the effectiveness of the enforcement strategies on both routes is assessed through the annual safety camera site selection exercise.

The Government will continue to invest in the A75 and A77, as it has done for many years. We have a firm plan for what we want to improve on both routes, which is set out in STPR2. However, our ambitions for investment are tempered by the reductions in our capital budgets.

We know all too well the devastation that road traffic accidents cause, and we continue to invest in the safe and efficient operation of both routes. I assure members that we are committed to improving the A75 and A77, as well as the wider transport network in south-west Scotland, so that the region can achieve its ambitions, as it so rightly deserves to do.

Meeting closed at 18:21.