Nanette Milne, Scottish Conservative MSP for the North East has called for an assurance from the SNP Scottish Government that North East taxpayers will not face the bill for future maintenance costs for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route once it is built.
The call comes following pressure from Scottish Conservatives which has secured a cap on the AWPR / Balmedie-Tipperty payments for North East Councils. Concern had been expressed that once the road was completed North East Councils may have also faced 19 per cent of the future maintenance costs.
The North East MSP has now written to SNP Transport Minister, Keith Brown MSP to seek clarification on who would pay for the future maintenance costs of the AWPR, North East Councils or the Scottish Government.
Nanette Milne, Scottish Conservative MSP for the North East said:
“I very much welcome the progress which Scottish Conservatives have made this week which has helped to protect North East taxpayers from potentially having to pay millions of pounds in additional funding for any increase in costs for delivering the AWPR.
“It is still not clear whether once the road was completed North East Councils may have also faced 19 per cent of the future maintenance costs for re-surfacing and maintenance.
“Given the central Council tax freeze Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council are both working hard to deliver value for money for every tax payer pound. They clearly could not have afforded for the SNP Scottish Government to potentially revised the AWPR costs again in the future.
“I will be seeking urgent clarification from SNP Ministers as to whether the SNP Scottish Government will be passing future AWPR maintenance costs onto North East taxpayers.”