Edinburgh Sheriffhall roundabout upgrade branded a 'dinosaur' project

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Plans to upgrade Edinburgh's Sheriffhall roundabout, complete with a flyover, have been branded a "dinosaur" project by Lothian Green MSP and former Scottish Government minister Lorna Slater.

The project was included in the Edinburgh city region deal agreed in 2018 and funded by the UK and Scottish governments, but work has not yet started.

Supporters say the upgrade - priced at £120m in 2018 - is essential to tackle worsening congestion at one of the busiest roundabouts on the Edinburgh City Bypass, but critics including the Greens claim it would create a "spaghetti junction" and generate even more traffic.

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Ms Slater raised the issue with Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, when he became the first Cabinet minister from the new UK Labour government to appear at a Scottish Parliament committee.

Mr Murray was discussing city region deals, which involve key projects put forward by local authorities, universities and others which will boost the economy of their area.

But Ms Slater said: "It appears that Transport Scotland couldn't get this project prioritisied or funded through normal means, so they turned to the deal.

“But it is a bit of a dinosaur. It was proposed before any government in the UK had declared a climate emergency, before the Scottish Government had set a target to reduce car kilometres by 20 per cent and there is a grassroots campaign against it.

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"The project is stuck. It's demonstrably not being built. But if you ask why we can't reprioritise the funds, change up the project, it's always because it's part of the city region deal. The question is how can governments, with their democratic mandate, adjust these longer projects to align with current priorities? It just feels our hands are tied."

Mr Murray said it was a good question. But he said: "The great value of local regional growth is it does come from the grass roots."

He continued: "The Sheriffhall roundabout was part of the deal, but is it something that should have been funded by those responsible for funding it regardless? Then it would have been in the governance structure of normal governing processes through Transport Scotland rather than through a city region ideal."

But he added: "I don't think it's for either government to be vetoing what comes forward in city growth deals because we don't like it when in fact it has been brought forward and properly assessed for value for money."

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Ms Slater replied: "It wasn't brought forward by the grassroots, it was brought forward by Transport Scotland."

Afterwards, Mr Murray said: "Lona Slater appears to be trying to criticise Transport Scotland by criticising me for a deal that's almost come to maturity. I suspect she should have some more discussions with her own government that she was part of, rather than trying to make it a Scotland Office issue."

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