Elaine Bailey writes on the petition page she has created on Change.org:
"This petition is for people living in Nairnshire, Highlands of Scotland and for those who travel the A96 through Nairn. We need in excess of 2,000 signatures fast!
Serious consideration is being given to a proposal that is currently in the hands of Fergus Ewing MSP. The proposal is to hasten completion of Nairn Bypass and save tax payers’ money. Mr Ewing would like to know if this has support in Nairnshire.
At present, the design of Nairn bypass ends at Hardmuir, four miles east of Nairn. This is different from what was originally planned, which was that the bypass should end at the east of the town, just past Sainsbury’s.
The new, and rather surprising, preferred route that came into being in 2014 also bypasses Auldearn to the north of the village before ending at Hardmuir. This is causing a lot of concern to local people as, if allowed to go ahead, it will rip up prime farmland, potentially putting farms out of business, people out of jobs and ruining homes. This means that there will be lengthy public enquiries and legal challenges, at a high cost to the tax payer. The result will be a delay, of several years, to the start of Nairn bypass. "
You can read more of Elaines suggestion of how to speed up the bypass process by droppin the contentious section for now here on the petition page she created.
Like there isn't going to be a public enquiry and legal challenges for the rest of the proposed route......
ReplyDeleteWhat a ridiculous petition. Trying to force them to change the plans won't get us a bypass any faster. If this kind of nonsense goes on we'll end up like the Aberdeen bypass, having to wait while one or two nimby's waste all our money. I don't like having our farmland and countryside dug up any more than the next person, but you can't build a road without it!
ReplyDeleteIt always seemed daft to push for the dualling of the whole A96 when the most pressing need was to get the essential bypasses built (Nairn, Keith, maybe Elgin). So the idea behind this petition seems sensible: build the urgent and non-controversial bits soon, and defer the more contentious new section around Auldearn to a later stage.
ReplyDeleteBut the politics are weird.
It's interesting that Fergus Ewing (a Minister at Holyrood whose party/government backed the more ambitious 'dual the whole A96' project) now seems minded to support this (interim?) arrangement..... but only if there's a public petition? This puts Transport Scotland officials in an awkward position: do they tell the engineers and consultants to do what Ministers have formally told them to do - the whole thing - or do they respond to this lobbying and prune back or re-phase the plans? It does rather suggest that the government itself is dithering.
Equally weird that this is being peddled via an individual/personal initiative on an online petition site. Maybe that's the way of politics these days. But why isn't the question being vigorously aired in the media (silence so far), considered by Highland Council (ditto), discussed in the Nairnshire Committee and even in our own local CCs. Has Nairn West & Suburban CC taken a view? Has Auldearn CC taken up the cudgels? What do our elected Councillors think?
There are people who will be as materially affected by the new bypass at other points between Inverness and Hardmuir.... it just so happens that this proposal made to 'lop off' the last few miles of the adopted route will save a few folk from being affected in the shorter term and , obviously , those people will understandably promote or support any idea that potentially delays a road being built near them...... It is an cleverly positioned argument , in that the prospect of a bypass appearing sooner , seems to be on offer..
ReplyDeleteI can't see how it would make any difference at all to the timescale and cost of the road though... as the missing miles would only have to be built in the next phase.. by which time costs would have inevitably risen.. and there will be a public enquiry for the Inverness to Hardmuir section,regardless of whether it is 3 miles shorter than intended or not
ridiculous petition, as someone who lives east of Auldearn and west of Hardmuir, the by pass can not come quick enough, the speed traffic fly past my road entrance is crazy.
ReplyDeleteJEK