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What has the SNP done for the Highlands


Alex MacLeod

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A new and seperate topic following on from comments made by Charles B in another thread.

 

Upgrading of A830 Fort-William to Mallaig which has reduced journey time between both towns to under an hour from previous nearer two hours.

Funding of up to £126 million for a fibre network that will bring broadband to many more people in the highlands.

Sanctioning of A9 dualling. Work should start very soon and be completed by 2025.

Sanctioning of A96 dualling. To be completed by 2030.

Investments and sanctioning of a number of renewable energy projects that will provide jobs and income for communities.

Sanctioning of improvements to A92 between Glasgow and Fort-William.

 

These are the things that come to mind for me that will go a long way to improving life in the highlands. Long overdue are the various road improvements. I'm sure there are other things going on in smaller scale but these are major investments.

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A new and seperate topic following on from comments made by Charles B in another thread.

 

Upgrading of A830 Fort-William to Mallaig which has reduced journey time between both towns to under an hour from previous nearer two hours.

Funding of up to £126 million for a fibre network that will bring broadband to many more people in the highlands.

Sanctioning of A9 dualling. Work should start very soon and be completed by 2025.

Sanctioning of A96 dualling. To be completed by 2030.

Investments and sanctioning of a number of renewable energy projects that will provide jobs and income for communities.

Sanctioning of improvements to A92 between Glasgow and Fort-William.

 

These are the things that come to mind for me that will go a long way to improving life in the highlands. Long overdue are the various road improvements. I'm sure there are other things going on in smaller scale but these are major investments.

In regard to the upgrading of the Fort William to Mallaig road, I seem to recall that a big part of the upgrading was done prior to the SNP being in power; and other work was "sanctioned" by previous governments.

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A new and seperate topic following on from comments made by Charles B in another thread.

 

Upgrading of A830 Fort-William to Mallaig which has reduced journey time between both towns to under an hour from previous nearer two hours.

Funding of up to £126 million for a fibre network that will bring broadband to many more people in the highlands.

Sanctioning of A9 dualling. Work should start very soon and be completed by 2025.

Sanctioning of A96 dualling. To be completed by 2030.

Investments and sanctioning of a number of renewable energy projects that will provide jobs and income for communities.

Sanctioning of improvements to A92 between Glasgow and Fort-William.

 

These are the things that come to mind for me that will go a long way to improving life in the highlands. Long overdue are the various road improvements. I'm sure there are other things going on in smaller scale but these are major investments.

Alex... "up to £126 million". Have you been borrowing that SNP oil revenues calculator again?

Renewable energy projects.... there are lots of people up here who could (and indeed do!!) see them far enough.

As for the rest of that fairly unremarkable "sanctioning" heavy list, I would be very disappointed if they were not doing things like this. That, after all, is what they got elected for and with any luck, with their total preoccupation with the referendum now at an end, maybe they might get back to doing the rest of what they were elected to do.

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A new and seperate topic following on from comments made by Charles B in another thread.

 

Upgrading of A830 Fort-William to Mallaig which has reduced journey time between both towns to under an hour from previous nearer two hours.

Funding of up to £126 million for a fibre network that will bring broadband to many more people in the highlands.

Sanctioning of A9 dualling. Work should start very soon and be completed by 2025.

Sanctioning of A96 dualling. To be completed by 2030.

Investments and sanctioning of a number of renewable energy projects that will provide jobs and income for communities.

Sanctioning of improvements to A92 between Glasgow and Fort-William.

 

These are the things that come to mind for me that will go a long way to improving life in the highlands. Long overdue are the various road improvements. I'm sure there are other things going on in smaller scale but these are major investments.

Alex... "up to £126 million". Have you been borrowing that SNP oil revenues calculator again?

Renewable energy projects.... there are lots of people up here who could (and indeed do!!) see them far enough.

As for the rest of that fairly unremarkable "sanctioning" heavy list, I would be very disappointed if they were not doing things like this. That, after all, is what they got elected for and with any luck, with their total preoccupation with the referendum now at an end, maybe they might get back to doing the rest of what they were elected to do.

 

Thats what it says here Charles http://www.hie.co.uk/regional-information/digital-highlands-and-islands/next-generation-broadband/

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A new and seperate topic following on from comments made by Charles B in another thread.

 

Upgrading of A830 Fort-William to Mallaig which has reduced journey time between both towns to under an hour from previous nearer two hours.

Funding of up to £126 million for a fibre network that will bring broadband to many more people in the highlands.

Sanctioning of A9 dualling. Work should start very soon and be completed by 2025.

Sanctioning of A96 dualling. To be completed by 2030.

Investments and sanctioning of a number of renewable energy projects that will provide jobs and income for communities.

Sanctioning of improvements to A92 between Glasgow and Fort-William.

 

These are the things that come to mind for me that will go a long way to improving life in the highlands. Long overdue are the various road improvements. I'm sure there are other things going on in smaller scale but these are major investments.

In regard to the upgrading of the Fort William to Mallaig road, I seem to recall that a big part of the upgrading was done prior to the SNP being in power; and other work was "sanctioned" by previous governments.

 

You may well be right KoB. Completion of the work was mid 2009 so chances are it was Labour who sanctioned it.

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Funding of up to £126 million for a fibre network that will bring broadband to many more people in the highlands.

Alex... "up to £126 million". Have you been borrowing that SNP oil revenues calculator again?

 

Thats what it says here Charles http://www.hie.co.uk/regional-information/digital-highlands-and-islands/next-generation-broadband/

 

What that HIE press release says is....

 

The public sector investment is being delivered through the Scottish Government from a broadband fund, which includes finance from the Scottish Government, BDUK, and there is £12m from HIE’s own budget.  There is an additional private partner investment from BT as part of the project, this on top of the business’ own commercial rollout programme for the region.

 

Given the number of... "funding partners" is I believe the latest buzzword.... it looks to me as if "funding of up to £126 million" is a pretty optimistic claim on behalf of "What has the SNP done for the Highlands?"

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And the wording taken from here http://www.digitalhiguide.co.uk/news/scotlands-first-publicly-funded/

 

The total value of the project is £146m. The total public contribution is £126.4m with an additional £19.4m coming from BT.

The public sector investment of £126.4m is being delivered through the Scottish Government broadband fund, which incorporates funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), and also includes up to £12m from HIE’s own budget. There is no European funding involved in the initial phase of the project.

 

That article suggests £64 million from Scottish Government. £50 million from UK Government and £12 million from HIE. Now I'm not an expert in politics but I'd assume the current Scottish Government are the ones who secured the funding from UK public purse. I also assume that HIE gets its funding from Scottish Government.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not having a dig at any particular Party, but why does it take so long to dual a road? 16 years seems a bit excessive to me.

Alex, once they get the go ahead there is all the consultation and planning which will take a few years and I am sure it will be done in stages which I think is down to money or lack of it!

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Not having a dig at any particular Party, but why does it take so long to dual a road? 16 years seems a bit excessive to me.

Alex, once they get the go ahead there is all the consultation and planning which will take a few years and I am sure it will be done in stages which I think is down to money or lack of it!

The wheels of politicians grind exceedingly slow (and only when they absolutely have to move. :wink: ). 

 

 Hasn't the M74/A74M just been completed from the start of dualling the A74 Gretna to Glasgow route in the 1930s, (though only 4.5 miles had been accomplished by the start of WWII.) By the 1960s, it was to be a motorway, instead of just being upgraded. The Scottish Office said in 1987 it was going to be completed from Glasgow to Carlisle and by the mid 1990s, had only extended north as far as Tollcross and was completed down as far as the border, where it joined the M6 when that was extended north in 2008. In 1994, there was talk about it being extended from Tollcross to the Kingston Bridge, but, although it had planning permission in 1995, construction didn't get the green light until 2001,after devolution, but it was then redesigned/realigned a bit, so it didn't enter the statutory planning process until 2003, when it was anticipated that it would be open by 2008. Then it went to public consultation, then there was a public enquiry and then the objectors went to court (adding millions to the cost), so it didn't even go out to tender until late 2006 and contracts were signed in 2008. The construction took less time than the talking about the construction.....now there's a surprise!.

 

By May 1965, there were 6.1 miles of motorway in Scotland open on the M8 and M9 (and 9.95 miles under construction on M74 and M8 with a further 26.7 miles on all four motorway lines going through the planning/tendering process.and a further 63 miles still a twinkle in somebody's eye). By the same month, NI had 9.2 unjoined up miles of one motorway and England had 388 or so miles of 9 motorways open......but the tendency with Governments is to do knee jerk, rather than pre-planning, so pretty much all roadworks of any kind are as a result of perceived problems..which are usually congestion ones around big cities and everything gets done in wee bits which, if you are lucky, join up at some stage. It took 75 years to get the M74/A74(M) the 93 miles or so from the border to the Kingston Bridge.

 

The A9 has been getting wee bits done .and there is a plan, honest..ask Transport Scotland.  Looks like 12 stages over the 112 miles between Perth and Inverness, with three of them currently under development, whatever that means, and intentions, when the plan was formed, are to have those parts done by 2025, though if it takes as long as the M74, which averaged  a construction rate of 1.24 miles a year......more likely to be a 90 year from now job! :laugh:

Edited by Oddquine
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Not having a dig at any particular Party, but why does it take so long to dual a road? 16 years seems a bit excessive to me.

It's estimated to cost around £3 Billion. I'd imagine they're spreading the liability. I wish it would be done quicker tho, I drive at least 70 miles on it each day.

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I just can't think of a major community as poorly served by road transport as Inverness.

 

Getting in and out:

* A9 - dangerous and very slow in heavy traffic both north and south.

* A96 - worse than the A9

* A82 - a lot worse than either the A9 or the A96.

In fact the road to Ullapool is arguably the least problematic.

 

Getting round and about the city:

* The apparently eternal construction of the flood system has closed Bank Street for months on end, with massive knock on effects.

* The regional disgrace which is the Kessock Bridge roundabout traffic lights causes further chaos.

* Just about the only thing that is an even bigger disgrace is the amount of time it is taking to get the Holm Mains - A82 link built across the river and canal.

* Utility companies seem to dig up the streets where and when they feel like it and then abandon holes in the road for lengthy periods of time.

* The same goes for stretches of cones, such as in Millburn Road.

* Traffic light sequences are all over the place and causing untold chaos.

* The traffic lights at the exit from Farraline Park on Academy street and at the Eastgate Centre/Morrisons are such that you can sit forever at a red light looking at an empty junction.

* Who was the clown who decreed that there should be THREE pedestrian crossings within about 100 yards near the Town House?

* The same clown may well be in charge of locating bus stops since far too many are placed at bends in the road or beside traffic islands.

* Then you get two complete roasters of councillors (Laird and Gowans) who want to stop left turns off Huntly Street which will create even more mayhem on Kenneth Street. Why? Because they want a "cafe culture" in the area :crazy: Given their party allegiance, this possibly returns us to the original topic of "What has the SNP done for the Highlands?" (Sorry... couldn't resist that one! :lol: )

 

Traffic within Inverness would, of course, be a rather less problematic if more people used buses. However, apart from the fact that very few bus stops have bus times attached to them, am I the only person who finds the timetables for Inverness buses completely unreadable and totally incomprehensible?

Having fairly recently acquired a bus pass, the only reason I don't use it is that I find it impossible to establish where and when the damned things are going!

Edited by Charles Bannerman
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I am dreading it, the cameras with no road works are bad enough.

I still doubt that the 60billion funding till 2030 will actually appear so Im assuming  Inverness to Aldearn dualled, an Elgin bypass, 3 sections of the A9 to be completed within the time scale, Kincraig and Dunkeld to Perth, main sections of Aberdeen bypass, Forth road bridge complete and the Raith interchange by 2030.

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Who was the clown who decreed that there should be THREE pedestrian crossings within about 100 yards near the Town House?

 

The crossing outside Mcdonalds and the one outside the Townhouse are basically one, the townhouse crossing is just a repeater of the Mcdonalds crossing - good for pedestrians that actually observe what is going on because once the traffic is stopped you can cross anywhere between the two! Yet the timing is such you will never get stopped at both (unless the traffic is stationary for some other reason).

 

Anyway most of your rant is nothing to do with the Scottish Government and if you want to rant about the SNP SG and the A9 and A96 - where was the action in the previous 8 years when Labour and the Lib Dems were in charge?

Edited by skifreak
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Anyway most of your rant is nothing to do with the Scottish Government and if you want to rant about the SNP SG and the A9 and A96 - where was the action in the previous 8 years when Labour and the Lib Dems were in charge?

 

It isn't meant to be about the SNP/SG. If you take a closer look, what I am doing is highlighting an important issue local to Inverness which seriously compounds the problem of the A9/A96. The state of these trunk roads is an issue on its own but, in the case of Inverness, it needs to be looked on as part of the wider picture of the general road traffic disaster which residents of that city have to suffer on a daily basis.

You will note that I did still return my argument fully to topic when I highlighted the role of the two Cafe Culture Councillors who - in the best traditions of the SNP  - are so preoccupied with their own parochial obsessions that they have no conception whatsoever of the big picture.

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Anyway most of your rant is nothing to do with the Scottish Government and if you want to rant about the SNP SG and the A9 and A96 - where was the action in the previous 8 years when Labour and the Lib Dems were in charge?

 

It isn't meant to be about the SNP/SG. If you take a closer look, what I am doing is highlighting an important issue local to Inverness which seriously compounds the problem of the A9/A96. The state of these trunk roads is an issue on its own but, in the case of Inverness, it needs to be looked on as part of the wider picture of the general road traffic disaster which residents of that city have to suffer on a daily basis.

You will note that I did still return my argument fully to topic when I highlighted the role of the two Cafe Culture Councillors who - in the best traditions of the SNP  - are so preoccupied with their own parochial obsessions that they have no conception whatsoever of the big picture.

 

 

Delicious irony.

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You could say

What has it not done?

The Highlands are short of cash for the upkeep of schools, many small and uneconomical situated throughout  the small villages.

. Many weak bridges, small roads to maintain, massive bills for snow shifting.

Freezing council tax means council employees struggle to get a fair pay rise. Expenses like building regulation approval's, or planning applications going through the roof to help the council meet its obligations. Freezing council tax does nothing to help small authorities with massive land mass and very small populations.

The SNP  are using the massive amount of  cash provided by the British government to buy votes with no concern for the running the Highland  council / Their only concern is for the areas that most of their  MSPs represent. It was quite noticeable that in the Highland region  not  one area returned a Yes, and some areas where well over 70% NO; Indicative that the general population in the Highlands are sick their antics and misinformation.

This Forum is way out of line with the people of this  area.

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