Press Release
14th December 2001
McNeil Presses Minister for
"Urgent Action" on Gourock Project
MSP for Greenock & Inverclyde,
Duncan McNeil, is continuing to press the case for the waterfront
development at Gourock. During Question Time in the Scottish
Parliament, he urged Deputy Transport Minister, Lewis Macdonald,
to take "urgent action" to get to the bottom of a
dispute which is threatening the partnership project.
The future of the scheme – which is a joint venture between a property development company, Inverclyde Council, the Executive and others – was thrown into doubt when Railtrack announced on 5th December that it would not be supporting four Scottish Executive funded rail enhancement projects, including the one at Gourock.
Mr McNeil wanted to know what representations the Executive had made to Railtrack following this move.
The Minister made it clear that the Executive was "keen to see the projects taken forward," confirming that "the Scottish Executive is in regular contact with Railtrack."
While welcoming the response, Mr McNeil went on to press the minister, urging him to get to the bottom of an apparent discrepancy surrounding Railtrack’s reasons for abandoning the project:
"When the Minister next makes representations to Railtrack, will he take the opportunity to clarify whether the company continues to claim that it has pulled out of the Gourock project because no signalling engineers are available?
"Will he advise Railtrack that the Strategic Rail Authority takes the view that there is short-term availability of signalling engineers?
"And will he take urgent action to get to the bottom of this issue?"
The Minister responded that he and the Scottish Executive will work to save the project, saying:
"We are in discussion with Railtrack and others on these matters. … We are asking Railtrack and the other interested parties to consider how best they can ensure that the projects are dealt with.
"We do not think that any of the four projects in Scotland should be set to one side and we will continue to work with Railtrack and the other interested parties on that basis.
"With regard to Gourock, we recognise that the gap between what is needed and what is available is quite small and we will work hard with the developers and the other interested parties to ensure that that gap is filled."
Speaking after Question Time, Mr McNeil said:
"A lot of hard work – from the developers, the Council, the Executive and others – has gone into this project.
"The problems cited by Railtrack for pulling out of this project do not seem insurmountable. I am glad that the Minister recognises this and that he will be working with all concerned to find a way around this.
"I will, of course, keep a close eye
on their progress and will work to keep the pressure up. The
people of Inverclyde do not deserve to be robbed of this golden
economic opportunity."
ENDS
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