Transport Scotland’s mixed response to the inquiry into the failure to complete the A9 dualling programme may be said to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as major concerns are reignited over the project.
The petitions committee launched an inquiry lasting more than a year into the programme based on Kincraig campaigner Laura Hansler’s call for the Scottish Government to fulfil its 2007 promise to dual the vital trunk road.
It came after the SNP admitted it would not meet a manifesto pledge to make the Inverness-Perth stretch fully dualled by this year.
The inquiry saw three former First Ministers – Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon, and Humza Yousaf – submit evidence as well as numerous past and present cabinet secretaries, officials and industry experts.
The committee concluded that failings mounted due to Scottish Government secrecy and indecision, which created not just “distrust” but also a “sense among people living in northern Scotland” that they have not received their fair share of investment.
More than two months after the inquiry reported its findings and 13 months on from issuing a new timetable for the dualling, transport secretary Fiona Hyslop sought to offer assurance about transparency and certainty regarding the programme.
But having raised those issues, she was unable to entirely put them to rest despite significant positive elements such as greater responsiveness to public needs that include looking at completing those parts of the A9 that are most lethal.
Calls for a memorial dedicated to those who have lost their lives on the road were rejected and there will be further questions about how far the Scottish Government should go as it also avoided serious questions about political responsibility.
On the issue of certainty, Ms Hyslop revealed there are to be major decisions on funding taken towards the end of 2025 regarding a so-called mutual investment model seen as key to completing the project.
She outlined at one point that “the government has repeatedly stated its commitment to delivering the A9 dualling programme in line with the delivery plan announced in December 2023 and has demonstrated that commitment by its actions since that announcement”.
She added: “Decisions on prioritisation of the A9 Dualling programme therefore require to be taken on a recurring basis, as annual budgets are set and individual contracts are awarded.”
So the Scottish Government’s “repeatedly stated” commitment is only solid for 12 months at a time.
Fundamentally, there was a political failure by the Sturgeon administration to deliver the programme in budget and on time yet the issue of responsibility is entirely absent from the response.
This was highlighted by Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government touting effective completion of major transport infrastructure projects “predominantly in central and southern Scotland”.
The inquiry found that led to “a sense among people living in northern Scotland that they have not received a commensurate share of capital expenditure to improve the road network across the Highlands”.
Yet the reality of this – which is facing many people in the Highlands – is ignored, with the Transport Scotland response stating this was neither a “conclusion nor a recommendation” stressing that other projects were due to be finished first.
The issue of transparency saw perhaps the worst argument deployed in favour of doing nothing, as the current structure with the Scottish Ministerial Code duty of “candour and openness” and the “obligations applying to civil servants” is enough.
Ms Hyslop said taking those “together provide an appropriate framework regarding candour” – but all that was already in place throughout the dualling programme when the Scottish Government and officials decided not to be open and transparent.
As early as 2018, private finance options were being actively considered by then transport secretary Michael Mathieson which would have made the 2025 deadline “unachievable”.
The inquiry said there was “a lack of open, external discussion of the challenges being faced in the delivery of the A9 dualling programme has negatively impacted public confidence in Transport Scotland”.
Transport Scotland responded: “The government is not of the view that any absence of external discussion of challenges negatively impacted on Transport Scotland’s ability to deliver major infrastructure projects within the timescales it says it will.”
This seems to negate completely the role public and media pressure could play in holding elected officials to account, who may then take more decisive action to ensure the promises they made were kept – the difference between the public knowing (transparency) and not knowing (as happened until February 9, 2023).
Instead Transport Scotland and Ms Hyslop rebuffed calls for a separate committee saying it is the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament to make such a decision.