An Aberdeenshire Councillor said that it was common sense that there should not be a blank cheque for building the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (WPR). Cllr Paul Johnston, a Democratic Independent Councillor posed challenging questions to officials at the Policy and Resources Committee of Aberdeenshire Council today (Thursday 4th March) where the costs and impact on other budgets were examined.
Cllr Johnston said: ” I was surprised that the report clearly indicated that even the previous, now outdated estimates for spending on the WPR were not affordable. Officials were reluctant to admit that the report suggested expenditure was both unaffordable already AND was only going to get worse. If known increasing costs were anything to go by, the extra costs to Aberdeenshire Council were very considerable. All this extra spending by Aberdeenshire would have to be paid for by cuts in Schools and other vital services.”
Cllr Johnston expressed concern at the comments made by Councillors defending the need to spend on the WPR. “The suggestion that this was vital and worth it at any price, was indicating that the more than trebling of previous csts and still possible more than doubling again, will be acceptable even though vital services in Aberdeenshire will be reduced. That was admitted by officials”
” I made it clear that I supported a Western Peripheral Route as part of a proper transport strategy. But nothing should be at ANY price. The axing of Crossrail (new commuter rail services) and reductions in other transport elements other than just roads mean that we are in serious danger of building a Western Peripheral Car Park. A white elephant.” Said Cllr Johnston.
The issue he explained was not that the north east needed a road, but that the North east needed a solution to both traffic congestion and environmental damage in the city. The issue he explained was nthat any scheme had to work and the WPR was now, he claimed, in severe danger of not delivering for the money.
“At some point, the pain of cuts in services will not be worth it for just an ineffective road. It will be ineffective as it will mean that thousand of houses will be planned and built because of a WPR in places which will only add congestion and the problems will actually get no better – just bigger.
“The Council are in effect giving a blank cheque for this scheme – no known limit to the increased costs, little conception of if it will work, and no thought to the cuts in services needed to fund it.”
I disagreed that Aberdeenshire Council should welcome a scheme which brings with it service cuts and may well be a white elephant still leaving Aberdeen City and Shire with the congestion and crippling debt”
