NEWS RELEASE
Friday 13th February 2009
Public meeting to scrutinise the case for the second Forth road bridge
On Tuesday 17 March at 7pm at Queensferry High School, the ForthRight Alliance is inviting members of the public to hear its case against the costly and unnecessary second Forth road bridge. It will be chaired by Rob Edwards, the Sunday Herald's Environment Editor and the panel will include Lawrence Marshall, ForthRight Alliance Chair; Patrick Harvie MSP and other local MSPs Margaret Smith and Shirley-Anne Somerville have been invited. The presentation will be followed by responses from the other panellists and a Q&A.
Lawrence Marshall, Chair of the ForthRight Alliance said:
"The reason for the Queensferry meeting is that many residents were shocked by the bridge exhibition recently staged by Transport Scotland. Queensferry & District Community Council is very concerned about the new routes which will bring noise and pollution much closer to the town, and has urged interested groups to respond through them. Our public meeting is an extension of that process and we aim to take the event to a much bigger venue in Edinburgh.
"The essential facts are that the bridge was sold on a misleading claim, that ministers could not be sure the cables could be repaired; the cables are now being dried out and this process has yielded encouraging results. In addition, the Chief Engineer said last year that he was highly confident that de-humidifcation would arrest the corrosion which was the only justification John Swinney gave for spending billions on a new bridge.
"The finance secretary keeps shifting the goalposts in order to justify a politically motivated project which will be a disaster. There has been little proper scrutiny of the plans by parliament so we are trying to provide that in our own way. We hope the public will demand proper explanations for the decision to replace the old bridge when the engineers don't think there's a problem with it. The money saved could be used to repair the cables and provide good public transport for all, not just motorists."
ENDS