A9 dualling

[B9127]

I would hope the Conservatives would back the Budget to help the A9 as Murdo Fraser keeps rabbiting on about the A9 and his the Shadow Finance Minister

[Mikehannah]

Strictly speaking they don’t need to support it. If a sufficient number , I think seven abstain. Then the budget can be passed regardless of what the Green try to force on Scotland.

[Halmyre]

I note that, of the Green contingent, the only one from outside the central belt is John Finnie, a regional list member for Highlands and Islands, which just narrowly encroaches into A9/A96 territory. However, Finnie is from Lochaber and probably reckons that there's no votes coming from road improvements elsewhere.

[Mikehannah]

Hi
I am all for Green issues however we cannot go back to living in caves and go around in Pony and traps. Btw A Horse emits large quantities of methane gas which probably means they will ban them eventually too.

Firstly, I have a major issue with MSP who have nothing to do with the North of Scotland , live in an area with good communication and infrastructure blocking long overdue improvements to a region they rarely set foot in.

The A9 and the A96 are badly needed on Safety and economic grounds plus regardless of the means of propulsion it makes little sense having a vehicle running at less than an efficient speed.

It is time that the other parties stopped the point scoring and NIMBY attitude and realised that by blocking the budget it doesn’t stop the Scottish Government but does let the Greens( all six of them) force their narrow minded damaging agenda on Scotland. In short the very thing that Labour, Tory and Lib Dem are voting against will go through anyway.

[B9127]

I agree re the Greens - other than Finnie I don't think any of them has any idea of the reality of road transport links in rural Scotland - in fact only Finnie seems to have done any kind of real work. The rest are consumed by their central belt mentality. The rest of the parliament needs to get together.

[A9Dan]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-51644373

The Scottish Government have agreed a deal with the Greens which provides free bus travel for under 19s and have agreed to review the Sheriffhall Grade Separation. Calls to scrap the A9 and A96 dualling have however been rejected. I am quite surprised the Greens did not put up more of a fight on this considering they got their way last year with the workplace parking levy but maybe the offer of free bus travel for under 19s was too good to ignore.

[A9NWIL]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-51644373

The Scottish Government have agreed a deal with the Greens which provides free bus travel for under 19s and have agreed to review the Sheriffhall Grade Separation. Calls to scrap the A9 and A96 dualling have however been rejected. I am quite surprised the Greens did not put up more of a fight on this considering they got their way last year with the workplace parking levy but maybe the offer of free bus travel for under 19s was too good to ignore.

Free bus travel for all minors is a good thing, Im gad the greens gave in like this.

[Berk]

Better take body armour if you’re heading into the East End of Glasgow.

[A9NWIL]

Better take body armour if you’re heading into the East End of Glasgow.

Why would that be?

[Berk]

You don’t get about much do you??

(Could always try watching Trainspotting, just for info).

[Nwallace]

You don’t get about much do you??

(Could always try watching Trainspotting, just for info).

Trainspotting is based in Edinburgh.

And Glasgow is nowhere near as dangerous as it once was, so much so that London looked at Glasgows vru approach.

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpoli ... ow-london/

It's not even the most violent part of Scotland, that's now apparrently paisley's problem.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[djw1981]

No worse than any major city, and Trainspotting (though significant chunks were filmed in Glasgow) is set in Edinburgh.

[A9NWIL]

You don’t get about much do you??

(Could always try watching Trainspotting, just for info).

I dont live in Scotland so I cant really do Glasgow that easy and when I have visited Scotland I had other places I wanted to see more than Glasgow, sorry to people who live in Glasgow Im sure it could be a nice place to visit, I have driven though bits of it though.

[Berk]

I’d probably agree with that. And the basic principle of giving college-age kids free transport is reasonably sound.

It’s just that you know without any sort of eligibility check (or availability rules), you’ll end up with neds/chavs roaming the buses and causing chaos, terrifying passengers (with kids etc.)...

[Berk]

No worse than any major city, and Trainspotting (though significant chunks were filmed in Glasgow) is set in Edinburgh.

I forgot that (even at the time it came out). Maybe it didn’t sit right somehow...

[Halmyre]

No worse than any major city, and Trainspotting (though significant chunks were filmed in Glasgow) is set in Edinburgh.

I forgot that (even at the time it came out). Maybe it didn’t sit right somehow...

It's actually set in Leith, which is not Edinburgh, as any resident of Leith will tell you!

[B9127]

Now that's out of the way can we now get on with main objective and get some contracts let

[Chris5156]

It’s just that you know without any sort of eligibility check (or availability rules), you’ll end up with neds/chavs roaming the buses and causing chaos, terrifying passengers (with kids etc.)...

I'm sorry, but that's a completely ridiculous overreaction. Where are these people at the moment? Presumably just walking the streets terrifying pedestrians with kids? Or, if you accept that you can walk around Scotland without being terrorised by 17-year-olds (which you can, by the way) then perhaps there just aren't hordes of "neds/chavs" (ugh) waiting to turn the country's buses into rolling gangland ghettoes?

It says a lot more about the negative stereotypes you hold about Scottish cities than it says about young people.

[Mikehannah]

I have actually looked at some of the cycling forums and I can only wonder in what reality the A9 or A96 they supposedly traveled were because it certainly wasn’t this one.
Claims of the road being empty and no case for upgrading them etc. The only time I have every been on either road when it can be considered to be quiet was between 1am and 6am. Other than that it is heavy traffic. I recently traveled on the A96 and I only got above 45 on the overtaking sections.

Does anyone know how much has been ear marked for A9 and A96 work. Is it just sufficient to progress the design work or can they start construction of the section that are “Shovel ready”.

[Bryn666]

It’s just that you know without any sort of eligibility check (or availability rules), you’ll end up with neds/chavs roaming the buses and causing chaos, terrifying passengers (with kids etc.)...

I'm sorry, but that's a completely ridiculous overreaction. Where are these people at the moment? Presumably just walking the streets terrifying pedestrians with kids? Or, if you accept that you can walk around Scotland without being terrorised by 17-year-olds (which you can, by the way) then perhaps there just aren't hordes of "neds/chavs" (ugh) waiting to turn the country's buses into rolling gangland ghettoes?

It says a lot more about the negative stereotypes you hold about Scottish cities than it says about young people.

I've walked around Glasgow with luggage and expensive computer equipment and felt safe.

Conversely when I went to Peterborough once I made sure the car was locked solid. Perhaps the real problem is English provincial dumps pretending they are the same as the rest of us.