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The Scottish Government’s Transport Minister
Keith Brown was in Maybole on Wednesday July 13 to
discuss progress on a bypass for the town. Mr Brown
was in South Ayrshire looking at some road
improvements south of Girvan and stopped off in
Maybole with local MSP Adam Ingram to see for
himself what the High Street was like and to hear
the comments of local campaigners.
While the meeting was
underway, the High Street was in chaos as traffic
jammed the road and vehicles had to go onto
pavements, reverse down one way streets the wrong
way and generally behave in all the ways that local
residents have come to despair of. Unfortunately,
the Minister missed all this but will be made aware
of it. According to later information Mr Brown seems
to have been impressed with the strength of feeling
and detail that was shared with him by the Maybole
representatives.
In a statement he
added, “We also recognise the importance of the
Maybole Bypass to both Maybole residents and
businesses as well as the wider links to the Loch
Ryan Ports and will look for opportunities to
progress it when funding becomes available.” He was
welcomed by Peter Mason, chair of Maybole Bypass
Committee, who thanked him for visiting Maybole to
see first hand the traffic situation in the town. He
also welcomed Adam Ingram, MSP, and thanked him for
all his work in presenting and supporting the case
for a Maybole bypass.
Chris Savage provided
some background information, including the fact that
a Maybole bypass has been on the agenda for a
considerable time stretching back at least to the
1970s and produced a plan for a bypass drawn up in
the days of Strathclyde Regional Council. Mr Savage
added, “The current action plan for the A77 would
appear to have a less beneficial impact in terms of
effective traffic flow and economic benefit to the
whole area than would the creation of a Maybole
bypass” and presented a number of statistics
relating to comparative costs and benefits.
David Kiltie had
prepared a leaflet tracing the case for a Maybole
bypass and the progress towards its realisation. He
highlighted the long history of the campaign for a
bypass and several promises regarding its
construction; the importance of a bypass in creating
an atmosphere conducive to tourism; the fact that
Maybole High Street is substantially unchanged since
the time of Robert Burns and before, but that
traffic and the nature of traffic has changed beyond
all recognition.
He said the case for a
bypass has the full support of South Ayrshire
Council, who have provided a letter of support, and
went on to outline the significant economic and
environment impact on Maybole; the fact that a
bypass has all party support and will therefore
attract little if any political objections; the
proposed route for a bypass would cause little
disruption to traffic flow whereas the proposals in
the action plan for the A77 would cause significant
disruption; the savings that will result for
hauliers and other road users in terms of reduced
journey times; the fact that damage to the
environment impacts on the most vulnerable groups
hardest; the problems associated with Smithston
Bridge where HGVs have to move into the middle of
the road to get through thus creating danger for
traffic coming in the opposite direction; and the
problems of lorries mounting the pavement in the
High Street to get past as there is no alternative
if grid-lock is to be avoided. Little did he know
that just outside this was happening as he was
speaking!
Adam Ingram MSP
commented on the 30% increase in HGV traffic which
is anticipated with the introduction of the new
Stenna ferries. Peter Mason commented on the need to
consider accident statistics beyond Maybole itself
since the relatively low level of accidents in the
town reflected the high level of awareness of the
dangers of traffic on the High Street on the part of
its residents and the decision taken by many of them
not to use the High Street. This contrasts with the
high accident rate at sites such as Smithston
Bridge. Mr Mason also raised concerns over the
refusal on the part of Transport Scotland to grant
permission to install additional pedestrian
crossings, speed limits, traffic calming etc on the
grounds that the A77 is a Euroroute.
The Minister asked for
clarification to be sought about these restrictions
and expressed his appreciation of having the
opportunity to meet, to hear of and to see problems
in the town. He said he recognised that the case for
a bypass had been made and accepted, and outlined
the difficulties associated with the current
financial restrictions and reduction in capital
budget. Mr Brown emphasised that these are austere
times and questioned why a decision was not taken to
go ahead in times of “greater bounty”. In terms of
timescale, even if money became available
immediately, he was unclear as to how much time it
would take to complete all preparatory work prior to
the start of construction work on a bypass.
In response to a
question about what Community Council can now to do
to push the case for a start to the bypass he said,
“Securing funding is the first stage. A spending
review will be carried out over the summer and
information will be released on budgets in the
autumn. “Although some borrowing powers have
been granted to the Scottish Parliament these are
very limited but this is a start.” He added that the
meeting with him had been invaluable but there was a
need to continue to raise questions and highlight
the issue. “Work with Adam Ingram,” he continued,
“to ensure that the issue is kept alive and
questions are raised in Parliament, particularly
subsequent to the financial review.
“The case for a bypass
is a strong one; we will be looking at the next
stage and talking to Transport Scotland about
prioritising work and we will keep all parties
informed.” Adam Ingram commented on the
possibilities offered by having borrowing powers and
on possible prioritisation of smaller projects such
as the Maybole bypass. Keith Brown commented that
the problem with prioritisation is that it creates
expectations which it may not be possible to meet.
He stated that full
advantage will be taken of the new borrowing powers
and indicated that additional monies may become
available as a result of looking at alternative ways
of funding capital projects. He emphasised the
importance of Maybole continuing to work closely
with Adam Ingram to ensure that the bypass is at the
head of the queue should funding become
available.David Kiltie asked what could be done now
to save time when funding is eventually available.
The Minister said that he would seek information
from Transport Scotland regarding the detailed
design for the bypass and the completion of the
statutory processes.
Peter Mason closed the
meeting by thanking the Minister, Adam Ingram and
Transport Scotland for taking the time to visit
Maybole to meet and contribute to what had been an
excellent meeting. He also thanked all Community
Council members for their attendance and
contributions. |
