28 June 2011
M74 job claims a wild fantasy
ALEX NEIL'S FANTASY JOB CLAIMS NEED TO BE CHALLENGED
Transform Scotland have today (Tuesday 28 June) responded to Cabinet Secretary Alex Neil's claims that the M74 will create "20,000 jobs", calling them "wild fantasy". [1] [2]
Colin Howden, Director of Transform Scotland, said:
"Alex Neil's claim that the M74 will create 20,000 jobs is wild fantasy and nothing more. The job claims of the Scottish Government were systematically disproved at the independent public local inquiry, and so it is deeply disingenuous for it now to return to these misleading claims.
"The public inquiry concluded that most jobs created would be at the expense of other areas around Scotland, and that jobs could well be lost as a result of relocation to make way for the road. [3] I suspect that the Government's former chief reporter, Richard Hickman CBE, who wrote the public inquiry report, might be surprised to find his findings disregarded in this way.
"Earlier this month, Transport Scotland made the misleading claim that the M74 was "under budget", [4] when in fact the road has almost trebled in price since it was given the go-ahead by the Scottish Government. [5] So it is disappointing that they now choose to stoop to using claims disproved at independent public inquiry held by the Government's own inquiry reporters."
Colin Howden continued:
"One of the recommendations of the inquiry was that proper evaluation be made of the impact of projects such as this once they have been complete. We will be pressing the Parliament to ensure that proper, independent analysis is done on the impacts of this project in order to ensure that public funds are not in future wasted on misguided vanity projects such as this."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
[1] Transform Scotland is the national sustainable transport alliance, bringing together rail, bus and shipping operators, local authorities, national environment and conservation groups, businesses and local transport groups - see <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk/members.aspx> for details.
[2] Transport Scotland news release 'M74 will benefit Scottish Economy', 28 June: <http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/news/M74-Completion-Scottish-Economy-benefit>
[3] The report of the independent public inquiry report into the M74 is available at <http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/37428/0009548.pdf>.
[4] Transport Scotland news release 'M74 Completion eight months early and significantly under budget', 14 June: <http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/news/m74-early-and-under-budget>
[5] When the M74 was adopted by the Scottish Government, its project price was £245 million. Its outturn cost is around £692 million.
[6] See <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk/m74-opening.aspx> for our news release on the M74 issued yesterday.
END OF NEWS RELEASE