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Getting the message through - for The Inverness Courier
LAST week, the Scottish Parliament got back down to business in Edinburgh.
High on its agenda for the new session will be the long-awaiting announcement of the Scottish Government's transport spending priorities. That is the key opportunity for ministers to back up their election promises with firm commitment of funding during the remainder of this Parliament.
So far, there has been some delay and disappointment but we have been told to wait patiently for this review and we must hope it will mark a turning point.
This summer, right across Inverness, volunteers have been delivering campaign postcards calling on the transport minister to "speed up the by-pass" for Inverness. In particular, we need him to honour the SNP's promise to fund work before 2012, by fulfilling the council's ambition to get the project underway in 2010.
Much has been said, both by me and by others, about the importance of this link to the whole of the Highland transport network. The huge response we have received bears testament to that, with well over 1600 people already signed up to the campaign, and more responses still coming in every day.
Last week, my colleagues John Farquhar Munro and Charles Kennedy took the cards we have received so far to Holyrood and handed them over to the transport minister, Stewart Stevenson.
I am grateful to Mr Stevenson for taking the time to receive the cards. I hope he will also receive the message they carry and honour the important commitments which have been made to Inverness and to the whole of the Highlands.
NEW LEADER
One key supporter of the bypass project — in his time as transport minister and since — has been Tavish Scott. I am delighted that Tavish has been resoundingly elected to lead my party in the Scottish Parliament and, perhaps more importantly, right across Scotland.
Indeed, Tavish has started with a strong commitment to break out of the "Holyrood bubble" and spend time travelling the length and breadth of the country to bring Scotland's communities closer to their parliament.
Judging by the start he has made, I confidently expect him to do just that. Just two days after his election, he was back here in Inverness, where he launched his successful leadership campaign almost two months ago, to see some of the new Albyn flats well on their way to completion on Anderson Street.
There was a serious purpose to the visit, highlighting, once again, the looming challenge which we face meeting our housing needs in the current economic climate.
The start that the Scottish Government has made has been far from encouraging, with a dramatic drop in the delivery of affordable homes even before the effects of the global slow down were felt.
Tavish Scott has contributed ideas, to bring forward substantial new investment in social housing and also to introduce mechanisms to help the growing numbers who live in fear of repossession.
Posted on: 09/09/2008
