Two charities, Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs (FOLLAT) and the Helensburgh and District Access Trust (HADAT), have submitted a joint petition to the Parliamentary Petitions Committee in response to Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop’s written answer to the Committee on Transport for Scotland’s (TfS) A82 upgrade proposal.
John Urquhart, the Chair of HADAT and FOLLAT, said: “Fiona Hyslop’s letter is a predictable regurgitation of the position that TfS has done everything correctly. The truth is they haven’t. Her admission of the possibility of a public local enquiry is at least a step in the right direction.”
Urquhart added: “The special qualities of the landscape are not being recognised, nature and natural processes given scant attention or ignored and golden opportunities to improve life for residents, visitors and travellers squandered. The Low Road solution for the A82 from Tarbet to Inverarnan will destroy large areas of irreplaceable Atlantic oakwood forest and blight 8 miles of Loch Lomond’s bonny banks with tarmac, concrete, steel and roaring, polluting traffic.”
Urquhart went on to explain that Transport Scotland’s 5 Transport Planning Objectives failed to take into account the opportunity to improve road safety and quality of life in Ardlui or Tarbet and did not consider the lack of safe, high-quality access to Loch Lomond’s shores.
The joint petition calls for the implementation of the High Road option for the A82 upgrade between Tarbet and Inverarnan, which they argue would provide opportunities to improve the environment, wildlife, residents and visitors.
The petitioners concluded by expressing their desire for a Public Local Inquiry to be held so that the many objections to this proposal can be heard.
Two charities, Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs (FOLLAT) and the Helensburgh and District Access Trust (HADAT), have submitted a joint petition to the Parliamentary Petitions Committee in response to Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop’s written answer to the Committee on Transport for Scotland’s (TfS) A82 upgrade proposal.
John Urquhart, the Chair of HADAT and FOLLAT, said: “Fiona Hyslop’s letter is a predictable regurgitation of the position that TfS has done everything correctly. The truth is they haven’t. Her admission of the possibility of a public local enquiry is at least a step in the right direction.”
Urquhart went on to explain that Transport Scotland’s 5 Transport Planning Objectives (TPOs) failed to take into account the opportunity to improve road safety and quality of life in Ardlui or Tarbet and did not consider the lack of safe, high-quality access to Loch Lomond’s shores.
The joint petition calls for the implementation of the High Road option for the A82 upgrade between Tarbet and Inverarnan, which they argue would provide opportunities to improve the environment, wildlife, residents and visitors. They outlined how the High Road would be along the edge of a mature coniferous plantation undergoing harvesting and could also be repurposed to active travel, while the Low Road would cause immeasurable damage to one of the National Park’s principal assets – the tree lined, beautiful, precious and wildlife rich “bonnie banks” of Loch Lomond.
The petitioners concluded by expressing their desire for a Public Local Inquiry to be held so that the many objections to this proposal can be heard.
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