BUILD THE BYPASS: Fergus Ewing calls on First Minister Humza Yousaf to visit Nairn over A96 concerns
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Nairn's MSP is calling on the First Minister to visit the town as part of his "cast-iron" pledge to dual the A96 between Inverness and Auldearn – including the Nairn bypass.
During the SNP leadership hustings organised by the Inverness Courier last March Humza Yousaf pledged to make the dualling project a priority if elected.
At Holyrood earlier this month he said an update on the scheme is due to be presented in the first quarter of this year.
However, lack of visible progress on delivery has prompted MSP Fergus Ewing to issue an official invitation for the First Minister to address the public at a meeting in Nairn.
He said: "I believed Humza Yousaf when, at a hustings organised by this newspaper group, he made a solemn pledge to deliver the Nairn bypass. Since then he has repeated that on several occasions, including to me in parliament.
"I believe he is sincere. Yet no progress has been made since he was voted in by party members to be the First Minister.
"Not one millimetre of tarmac has been laid, and the preparation for this project has been going on now for about a decade.
"Hopes of local people have been raised and dashed.
"I sought a meeting with the (then) Transport Minister Kevin Stewart on this last May, but he resigned. I then sought a meeting with Fiona Hyslop and that is at long last to take place later this month.
"Yet there is no real progress – and in fact many believe that there is a deliberate 'go slow' on necessary preparatory works – perhaps in order to spin things out yet further."
SNP MSP Mr Ewing, a critic of his party's power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens at Holyrood, added: "I have called repeatedly on the Scottish Government to deliver their promises. The A96 and A9 dualling were in our manifesto. The deal with the Green Party was not.
"With the Green tail too often wagging the Scottish Government dog, the public are rightly sceptical. But it's the public that pay his and my wages! They are entitled to see their First Minister and put questions to him. He is accountable to them as he is to people in the central belt. He should, therefore, have the courage of his convictions and, therefore, I am now calling upon him to come to Nairn to address a public meeting and explain when the pledge will actually be delivered.
"If it is not accepted now, I will keep making this invitation to him.
"As at 2022, £30m have been spent on the A96 and Nairn bypass preparation – yet we still have no clarity or any information about when the road itself will be delivered."
"The invite is being supported by local representatives such as.
Manager of local business organisation Nairn Connects BID, Lucy Harding, said: "Nairn BID is 100 per cent behind behind this invite. We invited Humza right after he was elected but we only received an email from the transport department one month later saying they would consider the invite, but that was never followed up."
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “As confirmed in the Programme for Government published on 5 September 2023, the Scottish Government is committed to improving the A96, including dualling Inverness to Nairn and 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 necessary statutory authorisation process for the scheme 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.”
