NEWS RELEASE
Thursday 14th February 2008
Forth Bridge cable replacement study – FoE Scotland
comment
Report confirms Friends of the Earth message: “Can we fix it? Yes
we can!”
Commenting on the publication by the Forth Estuary Transport
Authority (FETA) today of a report on the costs and economic impact of
main cable replacement [1], Duncan McLaren, Chief Executive of Friends
of the Earth Scotland, said:
“This report confirms what Friends of the Earth Scotland has said
about the bridge all along: Can we fix it? Yes we can! The cost of design
and construction for cable replacement could be as little as 2.2% of the
cost of a new bridge [2]. To waste up to £4.2bn of taxpayer’s
money on an environmentally disastrous second bridge is not a sensible
decision.”
McLaren continued:
“The estimated figure for the economic cost of any bridge closures
or contraflows strains credibility, given the vested interest of Fife
businesses in justifying a further crossing. These businesses also claim
that removal of tolls from the Forth and Tay bridges will bring economic
benefits to Fife, despite evidence accepted by the Parliament’s
transport committee [3], that the reverse is true.”
“We are also gravely concerned at the implication from FETA that
they would seek to go ahead with repair works to the existing crossing,
even if a replacement were under construction. This reveals that –
as we have long suspected – their agenda is to have an additional
crossing, rather than genuinely believing that a replacement is necessary.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
[1] Forth Estuary Transport Authority (22 February 2008) Feasibility Study
for the Replacement or Augmentation of the Main Cables – Update
and Interim Stage 2 Report
http://www.feta.gov.uk/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=126&func=selec
t&id=3
[2] The estimated cost of design and construction for the cable replacement/augmentation,
published today, is between £91m and £122m. The estimated
cost of the new crossing is between £3.25bn and £4.22bn. £91m
is 2.156% of £4.22bn.
[3] The Scottish Parliament’s Transport, Infrastructure and Climate
Change committee report into the Bill on removal of bridge tolls, accepted
evidence from Steer Davies Gleave that the removal of tolls would deliver
net economic disbenefits to Fife:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/ticc/reports-07/trr07-01-00.
htm