Scottish Government axe Glasgow Airport rail link
18.09.09
Plans for a £120m railway link between Glasgow’s Airport and city centre have been axed by the Scottish Government as a result of a ‘significant squeeze’ on public expenditure. Presenting his draft £35bn budget for the year ahead, John Swinney, finance secretary, told the Scottish parliament he had ‘reluctantly’ decided to cancel the rail link, partly to prevent drastic reductions in NHS spending in the years ahead.
Mr Swinney told MSPs: ‘In light of the difficult financial climate that we face, as a responsible Government we have had to face difficult choices about where to reduce planned spending next year.’ Transport Scotland confirmed this means plans to build a spur off the main line at Paisley to the airport and construction of a new railway station at the airport will not go ahead. Land bought through compulsory purchase orders to allow construction of a viaduct across the M8 motorway to the airport will be sold back to owners at market value, leaving little prospect of the project being resurrected.
The decision was greeted with a barrage of criticism. Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: ‘Scotland’s businesses desperately need improvements to our transport infrastructure if they are to emerge from recession and compete on a world stage. We cannot afford cuts to vital transport projects.’
David Lonsdale, assistant director of the employers’ group CBI Scotland, said: ‘We warned previously that funding for infrastructure projects is often wrongly seen by politicians as a soft target, and so it has proved.’ A spokesman for Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell said: ‘This is another knife in the back for Glasgow.’
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