- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Minister for Transport and the Environment on 28 September 2000, whether the #70 million to be made available to local authorities for repairs to local roads and bridges will be allocated on a pro rata basis or through a bidding process.
Answer
There will not be bidding process for these resources. These resources will be included within councils' single non-housing capital allocations, which are distributed on a formula basis, agreed following consultation with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Minister for Transport and the Environment on 28 September 2000, whether it will give a commitment similar to her statement that the M74 northern extension "will be delivered" in relation to the Kincardine Bridge and the A80/M80 and A8/M8 projects.
Answer
My statement of 28 September committed the Executive, directly and with its partners, to implement the decisions flowing from the studies into the A8, A80 and M74 corridors and the study into the second Kincardine bridge. That commitment stands.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has carried out any studies specific to Scotland to establish probable levels of traffic growth over the next 30 years; whether it will project traffic growth in Scotland over this period by vehicle type, road type and area type, as defined by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions for the UK as a whole; whether it will forecast for the same period growth in car ownership per head of population and by household, and whether it will identify and quantify the main factors it expects to drive traffic growth over this period.
Answer
A research project is currently underway to assess the impacts of Travel Choices for Scotland, the Transport White Paper published in July 1998. Part of this involves a scoping exercise to identify an appropriate methodology to forecast traffic growth in Scotland. The Scoping Report will inform the Executive's decision on the most appropriate way forward.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Minister for Transport and the Environment on 28 September, whether it will detail how the extra #200 million for local authorities in the period to 2004 will be paid, identifying the budget headings and specific funds through which the resources will be provided in each financial year in question and specifying each amount in both current and real prices.
Answer
Decisions on the allocation of the additional £200 million for local authorities, including decisions on the specific budget heads or funds affected, the timing of the allocations and the method of payment in each case will be taken following discussions with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and, where appropriate, individual councils and transport operators. Details will be published in the full budget document for 2001-02 in the New Year.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 6 November 2000
To ask the Presiding Officer, further to his answer to question S1W-9552 on 19 September 2000, whether the SPCB and the Holyrood Progress Group (HPG) consider that it might be appropriate to benchmark any of the works packages for the Holyrood Project against the Scottish Executive offices at Victoria Quay, the National Museum for Scotland or the replacement Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and whether the SPCB and HPG have, or have sought, access to any data which would facilitate benchmarking against these projects.
Answer
I have consulted the Convener of the Holyrood Progress Group. He has confirmed the view of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body that a benchmarking exercise of this nature would be time consuming, expensive and would inevitably divert valuable resources away from the task in hand. Bearing in mind the unique nature of many of the Parliament building's specifications, such an exercise would be unlikely to lead to many meaningful or useful conclusions. For these reasons, neither the SPCB nor the HPG has sought access to data on the projects mentioned.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Minister for Transport and the Environment on 28 September 2000, whether the #200 million additional funding for local authorities in the period to 2004 will be supplemented by additional borrowing consents or Grant Aided Expenditure allocations to local authorities in this period and, if so, what the relevant capital and revenue amounts will be in each financial year, in current and real prices.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer I gave to question S1W-10435.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Minister for Transport and the Environment on 28 September 2000, whether it will consider bids from local authorities for resources from the Public Transport Fund for local roads projects, where such projects bring environmental benefits, reduce traffic congestion, promote road safety and increase travel choices.
Answer
No; the Public Transport Fund was specifically created to assist local authorities in providing key value for money developments to their public transport network. Some of the public transport projects supported include improvements to the local road infrastructure bringing associated environmental and safety benefits. Scottish Ministers provide local authorities annually with a block allocation for capital expenditure on a number of services, including roads and transport. It is entirely a matter for local authorities to decide the priority to be given to local roads projects, in terms of all the services for which they are responsible, and allocate resources accordingly.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when traffic was last surveyed by or on behalf of the Scottish Executive or Scottish Office on the section of the A71 which links the A77 with the M74, and on those sections of the A70 between Ayr and Cumnock and between Cumnock and the M74 and what proportion of (a) car, (b) light goods vehicle, (c) heavy goods vehicle and (d) bus traffic on these sections is classified as (i) local traffic and (ii) through traffic.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not hold the information requested as the A70 and A71 are local roads. Gathering such information would be a matter for the relevant local roads authority.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Minister for Transport and the Environment on 28 September 2000, what precisely it is committed to delivering at Kincardine, in relation both to the village and to the river crossing.
Answer
I refer Murray Tosh to my answer to question S1W-10434. The Executive's commitment regarding Kincardine will clearly depend on the recommendations of the consultants' study.
- Asked by: Murray Tosh, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how it classifies road traffic as (a) local and (b) through traffic and what its criteria are for classifying "A" roads as (i) trunk roads or (ii) local roads.
Answer
Local traffic has its origins and destinations within the area, which is being considered. Through traffic does not.
Trunk roads form the national system of routes for through traffic. They are routes which were so designated in the Trunk Road Acts of 1936 and 1946 and which have not been subsequently detrunked, and those roads which the Minister for Transport, and previously the Secretary of State, have deemed it expedient to become trunk roads under the terms of these Acts and the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984. A comprehensive review of the trunk road network was undertaken in preparation for Local Government Reform in 1996 and the findings were published in 1995. A copy is in SPICe.
