S3M-5859 A90 (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Special Road Scheme 2010 - et al

Scottish Parliament

Wednesday 3 March 2010

[THE PRESIDING OFFICER opened the meeting at 14:30]

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Parliamentary Bureau Motions

The Presiding Officer (Alex Fergusson): The next item of business is consideration of six Parliamentary Bureau motions. I ask Bruce Crawford to move en bloc motions S3M-5859 to S3M-5864, on the approval of Scottish statutory instruments on the Aberdeen western peripheral route.

Motions moved,

That the Parliament agrees that the A90 (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Special Road Scheme 2010 be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the A90 (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Trunk Road Order 2010 be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the A90 (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) (Craibstone Junction) Special Road Scheme 2010 be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the A96 (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Trunk Road Order 2010 be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the A956 (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Special Road Scheme 2010 be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the A956 (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Trunk Road Order 2010 be approved.—[Bruce Crawford.]

16:54
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16:57

The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (Stewart Stevenson):

The Aberdeen western peripheral route is of course somewhat more than simply a strategic road for the north-east of Scotland: it is important for the whole of Scotland and substantial economic benefits will accrue from it. I will turn my attention to a number of points that Patrick Harvie raised.

The Aarhus convention and the habitats directive are of course under active consideration elsewhere, and I am inhibited in what I can say specifically about them, apart from making the obvious point that this Government would take no action in such matters if we believed that it was not legal.

Costs will be included in the discussions that I will have with the chief executives of Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council and the leader of the latter council in about nine days' time, as part of a regular programme of meetings. They have been content with our approach thus far.

One of Patrick Harvie's key suggestions is that every project that has a carbon impact should simply not be proceeded with. Were that to be the argument, it would mean that we would not spend on costs to insulate houses to improve their energy efficiency, because there is a carbon cost to that. We have always said that, across our programme as a whole, we will seek to deliver on the targets that we as a Government and a Parliament committed to when we passed the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill last June.

It is appropriate to draw members' attention to another motion on which we will shortly vote, on the carbon reduction commitment energy efficiency scheme. That scheme, which was debated at the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee in the form in which we will decide on it at decision time, will lead at United Kingdom level to the reduction of 4 million tonnes of CO2 per annum. The Scottish share of that is around a third of a million tonnes. I concede that the effect of the Aberdeen western peripheral route will be an addition of 10,000 tonnes. The decisions that we make at five o'clock will therefore have the effect of reducing the carbon emissions that we in totality are responsible for by some 320,000 tonnes. The totality of the programme is the important point. The Aberdeen western peripheral route is a vital link for the north-east of Scotland that is, I think, broadly supported—we shall see at decision time—by members across the chamber. I am happy to endorse the motions that my colleague moved, and I commend them to the Parliament.

17:00