Chamber and committees

In terms of franchising?

I thank my colleague and train geek—I know that he will not mind me calling him that—Liam Kerr for bringing the debate to the chamber. This debate is vital for the people of the north-east to force the SNP Government to look beyond the needs of the central belt and towards those of my constituents in the north-east. Perhaps with the SNP’s new-found freedom, having dropped the Green extremists, we can hope for more.

My constituents are all too aware of poor access to railway services in the north-east, whether that relates to the frequency of trains, the accessibility of stations, the reliability of services or the time that it takes to make a journey. All those areas require improvement, and I welcome the valuable work of bodies such as Nestrans, which is putting forward sensible solutions to the challenges of public transport. I would like to know the minister’s response to its excellent preliminary appraisal of the Aberdeen to Laurencekirk multimodal transport corridor.

We have seen the difference that new stations can make. In 2023, a new station opened on the Borders railway at Reston, and there has been growth in that community before and since, with other services such as on-demand bus transport feeding into stations and their links. It is estimated that the economic benefit of that development for the local community will be well over £7 per every £1 spent.

We have seen that that is possible, and we want to bring the same success to the north-east, including to communities such as Cove and Newtonhill. Moving ahead with those projects would make a huge difference to people who live in and around those communities, and to the centre of Aberdeen, as Liam Kerr said. More people would have an easy option to come and enjoy what the city centre has to offer.

A survey was done in Cove, and the results were telling. Sixty-nine per cent of respondents said that there are journeys that they would like to make by rail but cannot due to the lack of a rail link. Businesses and individuals in those communities are overreliant on their cars.

If the Government is serious about reaching net zero and actually meeting some of its targets, investment is needed in such schemes, but why stop there? The Campaign for North East Rail has been calling for the east coast line to be extended up to Ellon, Peterhead and Fraserburgh. The campaigners have been doing an excellent job, and I hope that this devolved Government will give the project real consideration in the years ahead.

Màiri McAllan said only the other day that this devolved Government had missed most of its net zero targets. Here is the opportunity to demonstrate commitment to the north-east, commitment to net zero, commitment to multimodal transport systems and commitment to our railway network, which is in dire need of investment.

When it comes to investment in the rail network, we must not forget about the promise that the Government made back in 2016. That commitment was to spend £200 million to reduce rail journey times between Aberdeen and the central belt by 20 minutes by 2026. Eight years down the line, very little has been spent and no journey time improvements have been made. That, like other grand announcements that have been made by the SNP, seems like a lot of hot air, and everyone in the chamber knows that there is not a cat in hell’s chance of that commitment being delivered—another promise broken by the SNP.

If we can do it in the Borders, we can do it in the north-east. I am proud to support my colleague Liam Kerr in bringing forward this debate, because only the Scottish Conservatives are standing up for the north-east and talking about the issues that are at the heart of economic growth and securing jobs, stability and the future of our residents.

I have been listening carefully to the concerns being expressed about capital. Will the cabinet secretary explain what impact that will have on the £200 million investment that was meant to be made to reduce journey times by 20 minutes by 2026? Is that project not progressing now? It does not seem to have made much progress in the past eight years.

The project is great news for Peterhead, but do such projects not make improvements in places such as Toll of Birness even more vital? The Government needs to get on with that work, because it is a real safety issue.

In the past hour, the principals of the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University have sent a scathing letter that highlights the huge financial pressures that they are under. They say that universities cannot continue to deliver the wide-ranging contributions that are expected of them with the continuing downward trajectory of funding. Does the minister understand that the financial crisis that they are in will impact programmes such as the 40 faces campaign?

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its plans to achieve net zero by 2045, what its response is to the Electricity System Operator’s report “Beyond 2030”. (S6O-03354)

I think that we all accept that the grid needs upgrading, but we cannot allow the north-east of Scotland to be desecrated to achieve that. Many of my constituents in Turriff and New Deer are alarmed at the scale of industrialisation that is taking place on their doorstep. Can the minister confirm that the devolved Government will use the planning powers that lie in its hands to stop the overdevelopment of those areas?

Does Liam Kerr have any confidence that the £200 million will actually be spent by 2026, as was the commitment?

Would it be correct to say that not being further forward with the Acorn project does not really have an impact in relation to the announcement that we had last week?

Could there be an option in the heat in buildings bill to allow hybrids for a certain period and then make the switch?