Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party press office

Date: Monday, December 12, 2016

FAO: all newsdesks
Embargo: For immediate use 
 

Scotland’s Economy Minister has admitted that construction on a section of one of the government’s flagship road infrastructure projects has fallen almost a year behind schedule.

The £745million Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) includes the dualling of the Balmedie to Tipperty section of the A90 between Aberdeen and Ellon.

That section of the bypass was due to open to traffic next Spring, but the contractor has now formally advised Transport Scotland that the timetable has been revised to Winter 2017/18. The contractor said it has not completed key earthworks prior to the winter period.

In a letter to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, Economy Secretary Keith Brown reaffirmed that the remainder of the Aberdeen bypass is still due to open in Spring 2018.

The AWPR was held up for several years due to a legal challenge from a local campaigner in the north east, who took the case all the way to the UK Supreme Court.

Scottish Conservative MSP for the North East Region, Liam Kerr, said:

“People in the North East have been waiting for a long time for the Aberdeen bypass to open, and will be disappointed to hear about this substantial delay to a key section of the route.

“There have already been issues with the construction of the AWPR, including problems with compensation for farmers who suffered damage to their land, and pollution concerns over run-off into the River Dee.

“Now the Minister has been forced into an admission that the Balmedie-Tipperty dualling has been pushed back by almost a year because works in advance of the winter months had not been completed in time."

Peter Chapman, North East Region MSP, and a member of the Rural Economy and Connectivity committee, added:

“The AWPR is a flagship infrastructure project for this SNP government, and I will be asking the minister why this section has fallen so far behind schedule..

“We are fully aware of the benefits that this development will bring to the north east, but the SNP made great play of the fact that this part of the route would open early.

"Now the management of the construction must be called into question.”

Ends
 

Notes to Editors

Link to Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee papers. Letter from Keith Brown is page

http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Rural/Meeting%20Papers/20161214_PUBLIC_Papers.pdf