February 2010
February 28, 2010 12:00 AM
Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.
There was an interesting moment for me this week in Parliament's Transport Committee as the formal road orders for the AWPR were laid before us for approval. These orders must be approved by Parliament before contracts can be tendered or construction started. This represents another step forward in the long saga of securing this vital bypass for the city and shire. My involvement with the campaign for this bypass goes back many years, and I have dealt with at least 6 different Transport Ministers in that time! It is disappointing that the SNP government has allowed the momentum for this project to lessen, and that the road is now estimated to be delayed by at least 2 years.
I have always held that The AWPR is only one strand of a package of transport improvements we need here in the north east - if we don't want to see congestion on the new road a few years after it opens then work also needs to be done in parallel to deliver public transport improvements. Two of the key projects that we should rightly expect the government to immediately help with are Crossrail and Strategic Park & Ride. I know Nestrans has proposals for park and ride sites at Portlethen and Bucksburn and therefore in Committee I pressed the Minister for an assurance that he understands the significance of these projects. I want his department to work with Nestrans to ensure they are funded and delivered.
There is an opportunity to save a significant amount of money if they are combined into the road contract at the outset rather than being tendered at a later stage or after the road is built. The Minister fell short of agreeing to his share of the funding but did agree to talks with Nestrans and I will be keeping up the pressure. Closely related to the AWPR are improvements at the Haudagain roundabout in Aberdeen. As this part of the A90 will be 'de-trunked' when the AWPR is built, it is essential to ensure that the government doesn't walk away from its commitment to invest in improvements at this notorious junction.I know there are worries that the government will leave it to the city council to tackle. I put this to the Minister at Committee pressing him to commit to funding and a timetable for these improvements. His assurance that the government intends to deliver these improvements fell a little short of what I was looking for!
Fair-Trade Fortnight.
Fair-trade fortnight started this week and the theme is 'The Big Swap'. The Fair-trade movement is asking all of us to swap our usual stuff for Fairtrade stuff. For example you could swap your usual bananas for Fairtrade bananas, your usual cotton socks for Fairtrade cotton socks, and your usual cuppa for a Fairtrade cuppa. As Ellon is a fair-trade town I expect that there will be many locals taking part in this. The campaign hopes to get an amazing one million and one swaps and it is asking people to go online and register their swaps. The website has lots of ideas and suggestions. Why not log on to http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/thebigswap and join in? The Fair-trade movement makes a real difference to thousands of people's lives across the world.
A Fair Share for Aberdeenshire.
This week in Parliament sees a debate on local government funding and I will once again be making the case for a fairer share for Aberdeenshire. Our local Council currently receives less than 88% of the Scottish average per head of population funding. That is patently unfair. If the Scottish government gave Aberdeenshire the Scottish average it would have an extra £63 m per year to support local services.
Young Traditional Musician of the Year.
I was delighted to hear that Daniel Thorpe, originally from Inverurie, won the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2010 award. the prize will see him take part in a tour organised by the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland as well as recording an album, and I wish him the best of luck for his future career in music.
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