Alexander challenges ministers to explain why Inverness bypass assessment was downgraded

12.00.00am GMT Fri 13th Feb 2009

• Key documents undermine Scottish Government case for shelving Inverness by-pass

Key documents uncovered by Inverness MP Danny Alexander seriously undermine Scottish Government claims over the refusal to fund the Southern By-pass for Inverness.

A Freedom of Information request by Mr Alexander has revealed that as late as July 2008 - when the preparation of the Government's transport review should have been nearing completion - officials expressed surprise that the project was not set to win Ministers' support.

Referring to an early draft of the Review, one official said of the by-pass, "The language used seems very positive yet it is being rejected…Generally the rationale [for not recommending] is not very convincing."

Another official observed that the Government would face "serious presentational problems if these documents are published as they stand," attaching an analysis of projects selected and rejected which shows that the Inverness by-pass originally scored higher than a range of projects given the go ahead.

Following the feedback, major changes were made to the assessment of the Inverness by-pass which ultimately appeared in the STPR, although there is no suggestion that any new research was carried out.  Environmental adverse impacts were amplified, a strong positive score on economic impact was neutralised without explanation, and road safety advantages were toned down.

Commenting, Mr Alexander said:

"These documents throw an extraordinary light on the process by which the Scottish Government ditched its commitment to the Inverness by-pass.

"At face value, the decision to abandon the by-pass appears to have been taken at a political level.  Officials were then tasked with explaining the omission, with little apparent reference to the facts.

"The original assessment of the by-pass produced by the consultant, Jacobs, would have made the link road a strong candidate for inclusion.  That objective assessment was then air-brushed out of the final document in favour of a much-weakened case.

"The Transport Minister must explain on whose authority the strong case for the Inverness by-pass was undermined.  Why was the summary assessment changed from an overall scoring of '+4', in favour of the project going ahead, to the final assessment of '-2' against it?  Among the changes, the suggestion that there is no net economic gain from the new road link is manifestly absurd.

"The credibility of the whole process is thrown into serious doubt. Ministers credibility is on the line too. People in Inverness will be extremely angry that the figures have been fiddled to stop the bypass that we desperately need. I want the government to go back to the original assessment, and give the bypass the go ahead. That would be the objective and the right thing to do."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

scanned copies of comments submitted by Scottish Government officials on the first draft of the Appendices of STPR Report 3, in which each project is individually assessed through an 'Appraisal Summary Table' (AST), together with the original Inverness by-pass AST on which they were commenting.

These documents were obtained by Mr Alexander through a Freedom of Information request concerning the revisions made to the STPR between the expected date of publication in the summer of 2008, and the ultimate announcement in December.

Also available is the AST for the Inverness by-pass which was eventually published, in which the key table has been substantially altered.

On this original assessment, the Inverness by-pass is on a par or better than a wide range of the projects which were ultimately recommended within the published review.

These documents can all be downloaded here: http://www.highlandlibdems.org.uk/resources/index/STPR