Transform Scotland - For Sustainable Transport

16 March 2010

ForthRight Alliance news release: Fix the Forth Road Bridge and save Scotland £2,000 million

ForthRight Alliance

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate use: Tuesday 16th March 2010

FIX THE FORTH ROAD BRIDGE - AND SAVE SCOTLAND £2,000 MILLION

A coalition of groups opposed to the building of a Second Forth Road Bridge will give evidence tomorrow (Wednesday 17th March) to the Scottish Parliament's specially formed Forth Crossing Bill Committee. [1] MSPs will hear a formal objection [2] to the bridge Bill from Lawrence Marshall, chair of the ForthRight Alliance. [3]

The ForthRight Alliance, the campaign against the proposed Second Forth Road Bridge (misleading called the 'Forth Replacement Crossing' by Transport Scotland), have called for Scottish Ministers to save Scottish taxpayers £2,000 million by concentrating on fixing the existing Forth Road Bridge rather than pursuing an unaffordable, unsustainable and unpopular second road bridge.

Lawrence Marshall, chair of the ForthRight Alliance and former convener of the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (between 2005 and 2007), said:

"We will be putting forward the case for resolving the problems of the existing bridge rather than committing Scottish taxpayers to funding at great cost an unnecessary, unsustainable and unpopular second road bridge across the Forth.

"Indeed, a public opinion poll in November found 57% of Scots in favour of repairing the existing bridge. Only 34% supported the Scottish Government's view that an additional bridge is required. [4]

"Spending over £2 billion on something we don't need, will exacerbate existing problems of road traffic growth and pollution and will divert public funds away from many more worthwhile projects throughout the land is hardly the hallmark of prudent political leadership. The decision to proceed with a new crossing was taken in something of a  panic. Anxiety is never the best driver of policy.

"We very much hope that a more sober approach to this important issue can now be adopted by decision-makers in the light of a more encouraging prospectus for the existing bridge and the clear indication that its problems can be resolved at a fraction of the capital cost of building a new one." [5]

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] The Forth Crossing Bill Committee will meet at 10.30 on Wednesday 17th March 2010 in Committee Room 5.

[2] The ForthRight Alliance objection to the Bill is available at <http://archive.transformscotland.org.uk/campaigns/FRA/docs/FRA%20objection%20to%20FRC%20Bill%20v2.1.pdf>.

[3] The ForthRight Alliance is a coalition of groups opposed to the construction of a Second Forth Road Bridge. The Alliance believes that a new road bridge is both unwelcome and unnecessary, as a series of reports have indicated that the problems with the Forth Road Bridge can be addressed without building a second bridge. See <http://www.forthrightalliance.org/> for further details.

[4] A recent YouGov poll (November 2009) found that 57% were in favour of fixing the existing Forth Road Bridge. See <http://www.patrickharviemsp.com/2009/11/news-release-yougov-poll-shows-57-oppose-extra-forth-road-bridge/> for details.

[5] Evidence from official reports suggests that even if drying - which has been successfully installed on sixteen similar suspension bridges worldwide - fails to arrest corrosion then cable augmentation or replacement can be carried out over 7-8 years without weekday closure of the bridge. The cost range for this is £91-122 million [Reference: Forth Estuary Transport Authority (2008): Feasibility Study for the Replacement or Augmentation of the Main Cables - Update and Interim Stage 2 Report. Report to FETA, 22/02/08: Table 1, Section 3.3], compared with an initial estimate of £3,200 - 4,200 million for a new bridge and now £1,720 - 2,340 million for a bridge of "narrower design".


END OF NEWS RELEASE