‘I’m going nowhere until job is done’ says A9 Dual Action Group leader
The Highland A9 safety campaigner who sparked the latest damning report on the dualling delay has promised: “I’m going nowhere”.
Laura Hansler told HNM: “There is still a long way to go… The A9 Dual Action Group remains in place and we will continue to fight every step of the way.”
The official 53-page report from the Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee has concluded a lack of agreement on the availability and type of funding significantly contributed to the failure by the Scottish Government to achieve the 2025 dualling target.
The committee remains concerned about whether funding will be available when it needs to be in order to meet the revised 2035 deadline.
The report followed an inquiry prompted by petition PE1992 by Ms Hansler which called on the Scottish Government to fulfil its 2011 promise to dual the vital trunk road between Perth and Inverness.
Ms Hansler told the Strathy: “The next move is waiting on a response from both the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland which should be before Christmas recess.
“Then ideally I’d want to form a steering group across the communities, with MSPs and families, to forge ahead with the proposed memorial to those who have died on the road.”
She observed: “This is a period of reflection and observation, with slippage already apparent at Tomatin to Moy.
“There is also concern about the government’s earlier promise to start to roll out at haste on the A9, taking on board my evidential suggestion to dual consecutively and sequentially - it would already seem apparent that this is not going to happen.
“That therefore leaves their 2035 date in severe jeopardy.
“My faith is in the construction industry that they could in fact deliver to this date but they are under the remit of their client.
Ms Hansler continued: “We have seen just far too many broken promises. Far too many cast iron guarantees have left this very unpalatable whilst people are still paying with their lives.
“I will not allow them to be forgotten nor the people of Highlands and Islands treated with continued contempt. It goes beyond disrespect - it was just a complete disregard for our lives and our safety.
“The Scottish Government must accept with some humility and grace that they have got it badly wrong.
Petitions committee member Fergus Ewing, a staunch critic of the Scottish Government’s handling of the A9 dualling, said that it is now time for action by Ministers.
“This report makes very serious criticisms of the Scottish Government,” said the MSP for Strathspey.
“They failed to work out how to fund the project, and failed to drive it forward, notably from 2016 onwards.”
The committee received documents from Transport Scotland which showed that issues were repeatedly raised over a number of years, all of which increased the risk of the 2025 target becoming unachievable.
Transport Scotland’s role within the project has also come under scrutiny.
It was unclear to the committee where the A9 dualling programme sat within Transport Scotland’s wider project portfolio.
There was also concern about the lack of open and external dialogue about the challenges being faced with the project.
They said this was something which could undermine the public’s confidence in the body’s ability to deliver major infrastructure projects.
The committee is now calling on a ‘duty of candour’ to be introduced for major projects so that challenges are brought to light sooner.
Committee convener Jackson Carlaw MSP said: “Too many people have lost their lives on this road and the thoughts of the Committee go out to the families of everyone affected.
“What has become clear to the committee is that a lack of clarity over the availability of funding has, fundamentally, resulted in not just a failure to deliver this project but it contributed to wider failure to be open about the challenges being faced by the project.
“This is, quite frankly, unacceptable for those who live and work in Northern Scotland.
“And whilst a revised date for completion of the project has been announced by the Cabinet Secretary, the delay of the Tomatin to Moy section of the A9 makes us unconvinced that lessons of the past have been learned.”
• The full report can be read at https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/Committees/ then search ‘A9’.
Transport Scotland has told HNM the A9 is an essential route and ‘it must be safe, reliable and resilient, and that is what this Government will deliver’.
A spokesperson said on Wednesday: “The delivery plan announced on 20 December 2023 has been developed to balance market capacity, disruption to road users and challenging financial constraints and provides much-needed certainty for road users, local communities and the construction industry on when works are expected.
“We have made good early progress in meeting delivery plan targets – the procurement of the Tay Crossing to Ballinluig project began in May and the construction contract for the Tomatin to Moy project was awarded in July.
“We welcome publication of the report of this inquiry and will carefully consider and respond to the recommendations set out in the report.
“In the meantime, progressing with the delivery plan announced in December 2023 is a key priority for the Government and we are fully engaged in delivering on that commitment.”