Environmental groups have joined forces to urge the Scottish Government to delay signing the £2.3 billion contract for a new Forth crossing.
Scotland’s most senior civil servant, Sir John Elvidge, has given ministers special dispensation to sign a contract for the £2.3 billion project during purdah, when parliament is in recess and campaigning for the Scottish Parliament elections is under way.
Ministers are not normally allowed to make major announcements during this time.
Pressure groups, Friends of the Earth Scotland, WWF, Transform Scotland, Spokes and the Forth Right Alliance are calling on the Scottish Government to abandon the project entirely and spend the £2.3 billion the new crossing will cost on public services, affordable homes and green projects.
Francis Stuart, parliamentary and policy officer for Friends of the Earth Scotland, said, “We already know that the existing Forth Road Bridge can be repaired.
“Further studies to be published shortly are likely to confirm this can be done cheaply and with little disruption. To spend £2.3bn on an unnecessary bridge when public services are facing huge cuts is irresponsible.”
He added, “£2.3bn would be better spent protecting public services and investing in the green infrastructure needed to tackle climate change and protect the poorest in our society.
“At the very least the government should put off signing the contract until after the election when the next parliament will have the opportunity to take an informed decision based on the fullest evidence.”Under fireMeanwhile, First Minister Alex Salmond has come under fire from the Greens for admitting the new Forth bridge would “leave little room for further projects in coming years.”
Earlier this week he said funding for projects such as road repairs could be cut to help pay for the £2.3 billion Forth replacement crossing and the £840 million Southern General Hospital in Glasgow.
Ministers are expected to announce the consortium to be given the contract to construct the bridge only days before voters go to the polls for the Holyrood elections.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie said, “The SNP are getting ready to sign a multi-billion pound contract during the election because Alex Salmond wants to front up the most expensive photo-op this country will have ever seen and to avoid the contract being scrutinised by parliament.
“The reality is that the existing bridge can be repaired for a tiny fraction of the cost of this new project and we now know exactly which services will pay the price.
“It is inexcusable of the SNP to press on with an additional bridge while handing on massive cuts to housing, education and energy efficiency and leaving every community in Scotland without the funds to repair the potholed local roads which we all rely on every day of the week.
“We support the principle that Scottish ministers should be able to borrow to invest, but we cannot accept the idea that generations of Scottish taxpayers should be saddled with the unnecessary burden this bridge would represent.”
“A short delay, even to the summer, in awarding the contract would allow the work already under way on the existing bridge to be assessed and for more preparatory work to be done on the repair option should that prove necessary.”