EXCLUSIVE: A96 dualled by 2030 pledge abandoned years ago, emails from Michael Matheson MSP, Transport Scotland and Scottish Government show
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THE promise to dual the A96 by 2030 was quietly dropped more than three years ago – while the Scottish Government still refuses to admit the scrapped deadline.
That is according to Scottish Government emails, which show then-Transport Secretary Michael Matheson MSP, civil servants and Transport Scotland officials agreeing to remove the pledge from a report in November 2020.
After the change was agreed, officials worried about "communication of these issues" and stressed the need to organise a "handling plan" with Mr Matheson.
Released through freedom of information requests, the partly-redacted emails also show that a UK Government funding cut influenced the deadline's quiet ditching.
In recent years, politicians and officials have repeatedly refused to state whether the A96 will be dualled by 2030 – in line with a 2011 pledge.
The news comes a full year after the Scottish Government admitted they would fail to meet their promise to dual the A9 by 2025.
In response to this story, Transport Scotland again refused to address the 2030 deadline for dualling the A96.
On the year-late A96 Corridor Review, the delay was blamed on the volume of responses to a public consultation which “generated 11,000 options”.
Emails – pledge scrapped
In 2015, the government's Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) set out its spending plans until 2021 and repeated the pledge to dual the A96 by 2030.
Six-monthly updates on the plan were published to show how projects were progressing.
And every update between the launch of the 2015 IIP and the March 2020 update gave 2030 as the timescale for full dualling.
However, during the preparation of the September 2020 update, a redacted Scottish Government staff member emailed Transport Scotland finance director Lee Shedden and asked whether the 2030 pledge should be included.
That afternoon (November 19), citing "communication" concerns, Mr Shedden forwarded that email to a redacted recipient and copied in Transport Scotland director of transport strategy and analysis Alison Irvine, chief executive Roy Brannen and director of major projects Alasdair Graham.
In his message, he writes: "I have copied to others to consider how we may best handle the communication of these issues."
The next day Mr Graham emailed Mr Shedden, confirming he had agreed with chief executive Mr Brannen to remove all reference to the 2030 deadline.
He adds that a "handling plan" will need to be agreed with Transport Minister Michael Matheson MSP.
"The following line has been agreed with Roy for inclusion in the IIP Programme Update report," Mr Graham writes.
"'The Scottish Government is committed to dualling the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen. Delivery of each section of the dualling programme can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for its progress can be set.'
"Grateful if you could let me know what the planned timescale for publication is as we will need to get a handling plan up to and agreed with Mr Matheson in advance of publication."
Later that day, deputy director of Infrastructure and Investment at the Scottish Government Rachel Gwyon emailed Mr Matheson with details of "our proposed handling of the questions which have arisen."
Her email added that her advice included "some issues to be aware of" before the draft report went to a Scottish Parliament audit committee (PAPLS).
Changes after funding cut
Ms Gwyon's briefing note said: "We will stay in close touch with Transport Scotland colleagues as they finalise the nature and timing of A9 and A96 activities for the next five year period, to ensure that any PAPLS pipeline reporting is realistically related to funded plans."
Three days later, on November 23, a background note to a parliamentary question briefed Mr Matheson to say: "The Scottish Government remains committed to completing the dualling of the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen."
However, it made no mention of the 2030 deadline.
The next day (November 24), a meeting of Transport Scotland's A96 Dualling Inverness to Aberdeen Programme Board heard that a design contract on the Huntly to Aberdeen section was to begin shortly.
However, the minutes add that this would depend on cash being made available in "the capital spending review and Scottish Budget 2021/22 on January 28, 2021."
On November 25, the UK Government released their Infrastructure Strategy Document which, the Scottish Government argued, entailed a significant cut in capital funding for Holyrood.
Later that day, Mr Shedden emailed a redacted recipient, to ask whether they should continue to launch the preferred route for dualling Huntly to Aberdeen "particularly in light of the significant funding announcements in the latest UK Infrastructure document published today."
That evening, another email to Mr Matheson MSP from a redacted address confirmed the final wording of the update's section on A96 dualling.
Instead of the 2030 deadline, it said: "delivery of each section of the dualling programme can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for its progress can be set."
Also included were "proposed reactive lines" for transport secretary Mr Matheson, "should questions be raised following publication".
On November 30, a private secretary to Mr Matheson said the Transport Secretary was "content" with the final line apart from a single typo.
The September 2020 programme pipeline update was released on December 4, 2020, without any mention of dualling the road by 2030.
That document repeated the Scottish Government's pledge to dual the A9 by 2025 – apparently showing that the A96's 2030 date was actually abandoned first despite it never being officially confirmed.
In the following years, the Scottish Government has remained silent on the state of the 2030 pledge.
Transport Scotland’s response
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “As we have made clear on a number of occasions, including through our Programme for Government, the Scottish Government is committed to improving the A96.
“The current plan is to fully dual the route and, as part of this process, we are undertaking a transparent, evidence-based review of the programme, which includes a Climate Compatibility Assessment and other statutory assessments.
“The significant interest in the review’s initial consultation, with nearly 4,600 responses, generated 11,000 options to improve the corridor and it’s only right that appropriate time has been taken to examine and fully appraise these.
“We have been pushing forward with the detailed appraisal of the retained options and provided advice to Ministers on the emerging outcomes from the robust appraisal process in January.
“Following consideration by Ministers, the public will then be consulted in terms of the outcomes in the coming months, before a final decision can be reached.
“At the same time preparation work continues on the dualling of the Inverness to Nairn section, including the Nairn bypass, which already has Ministerial consent following a public local inquiry.
“We are continuing to progress the significant and intensive work required to prepare for publication of Made Orders, including the Compulsory Purchase Order, with a view to completing the statutory process as soon as possible.
“Delivery of the scheme can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory authorisation process and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets.”
The next article in our exclusive A96 investigation will be published next Friday.
