The Scottish Borders is once again being overlooked when it comes to investment in major roads, local MP John Lamont has said.
Other parts of Scotland have benefited from significant investment in recent months. In February this year, the £1 billion Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route was completed, meanwhile work on a 17 mile section of the £3 billion A9 dualling project has just begun between Killiecrankie and Glengarry. The Scottish Government is also committed to dual 86 miles of the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness by 2030.
In Nothumberland, the UK Government is pushing ahead with improvements on the A1 to the Border, as part of a £300m investment programme. Proposals for dualling the five-mile stretch from Alnwick to Ellingham are currently out for public consultation.
Local MP John Lamont has been campaigning for the 17 mile single lane stretches of the A1 in Berwickshire and East Lothian to be dualled for many years. He has now written to the Transport Secretary saying the time has come for the Scottish Government to invest in this route.
Commenting, John Lamont MP said: “The Scottish Government has found the money to invest in major routes in Aberdeen, the North East and Perthshire, yet once again the Scottish Borders is being overlooked.
“Upgrading the A1 would provide a huge economic boost to the Borders, while also providing a road that is safer and easier to travel on. It is something I have been campaigning on for years and the time has come to invest in this route.
“The UK Government is pressing ahead with dualling of the A1 south of the border so I’ve written to the SNP Government to urge them to follow this lead. What type of message does it send out to businesses and visitors using the road if the entire English section is dualled, only for the road to become a single carriageway as soon as motorists get to Scotland?
“For years now, residents and businesses in Berwickshire have been crying out for the A1 to be improved. The SNP seem reluctant to invest in this route, perhaps because it leads to England, but whatever the reason, the A1 has been overlooked for too long.”
