If re-elected the Government will hold a Dumfries & Galloway Transport Summit within its first 100 days, Deputy First Minister John Swinney has announced.
The call for a summit was first made by Joan McAlpine, the SNP Dumfriesshire candidate who said ambition needed to be raised to better connect the region with the rest of Scotland and recognise Dumfries’s status as a capital of the south.
The transport summit was a key pledge in Ms McAlpine’s local Dumfriesshire election manifesto launched three weeks ago.
Ms McAlpine said: “I am delighted that Mr Swinney has not only agreed to my call for a transport summit but will chair it himself. I have argued that the 2008 local transport plan is out out of date and lacks ambition. For example all the road upgrades on the A75 demanded in the plan have now been delivered. National Government can only respond to local demands and this is a great opportunity to revisit those demands and raising our game – with a big emphasis on linking up Dumfries and the east of the region. The M74 is a tremendous asset but it by passes our regional capital by 20 miles! ”
In its manifesto the SNP has already committed to numerous Dumfries and Galloway transport developments including further improvements to the A75, exploring how to better connect Dumfries and the M74, improvements to the A77 to facilitate better and faster links to the Cairnryan ferry terminal and prioritising improvements to the A7.
Commenting on the SNP’s plans for a Dumfries and Galloway Transport Summit, Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, said:
“The SNP want to grow the economy of every area of Scotland and our Dumfries and Galloway team have continually made the compelling case that to grow the Dumfries and Galloway economy and create new jobs we need further improvements to the region’s transport infrastructure.
“That is why the SNP, if re-elected to Government, will hold a Dumfries and Galloway Transport Summit within 100 days of re-election – to take forward the plans set out in our manifesto.”
Link to Joan McAlpine’s Dumfriesshire https://issuu.com/joanmcalpine/docs/dumfriesshire_manifesto_8_pages/1
