BUILD THE BYPASS: Concerns new deadline for A9 will push back Nairn Bypass plans
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Progress on A9 dualling should not be allowed to delay work towards securing the Nairn bypass and dualling the A96, community leaders have insisted.
On Wednesday, the Scottish Government announced a new timeline for the delivery of the Inverness-Perth section of the A9, now setting its sights on dualling by 2035.
With no mention of the A96, this has sparked fears that focus could be lost here.
Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing said: “I’m extremely concerned that another year has passed with no progress on the long promised Nairn Bypass.
“I have last week pressed this in the Holyrood chamber and had no answer at all.
“Nairn is the forgotten town and I’m determined to see progress in the new year.”
He has arranged a meeting with transport minister Mairi McAllan to discuss matters on January 25.
He said: “I shall urge her, again, to complete the long awaited ‘made orders’ and to put the Nairn bypass project into procurement.”
A review of the A96 dualling programme, originally planned for December 2022, has still not reported, with the Scottish Government failing to announce any progress on the project.
Nairn Provost Laurie Fraser said the silence over A96 development was “expected” but still “very disappointing”.
He said: “I suspected they wouldn’t say anything on it and they always said they need to dual the A9 first – so we are where we are.
“The Scottish Government has come up with various excuses to justify the delay. They are spending too much money in the central belt and forgetting about the communities in the north.
“The most urgent thing is not dualling the A96, but a bypass for Nairn and Elgin. Give us a single carriageway bypass, and the dualling can be done at a later date.”
Calls to improve safety on the stretch increased recently after a serious crash near Auldearn which left a woman in critical condition.
Nairn BID manager Lucy Harding said: “It’s a nightmare seeing that these plans are just not going ahead. Unfortunately there is not much we can do, but we’ll keep on fighting to see things move on.
“What they are doing is just knocking the ball down the road and we are left coping with the increasing congestion and danger.
“This will be disastrous for Nairn.”
She also suggested that delays on the road has a knock-on effect on other projects, holding back further development in Nairn.
Last week, the Scottish Government admitted – in reply to a Freedom of Information request submitted by Moray Lib Dem leader Neil Alexander – that no meetings had been held for more than a year with regards to an environmental impact report needed before any more work on the A96 can be progressed.
A spokesperson for Transport Scotland said: “Preparation work continues on the dualling of the Inverness to Nairn section (of the A96), including the Nairn bypass, which already has ministerial consent following a public local inquiry.
“We are continuing to progress the significant and intensive work required to prepare for publication of Made Orders, including the Compulsory Purchase Order, with a view to completing the statutory process as soon as possible.
“Delivery of the scheme can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory authorisation process and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets.”
