Murdo Fraser MSP would like to see more progress on dualling the A9 Perth to Inverness road in 2023 and he hopes to see his Members’ Bill on Fly-tipping move closer to becoming legislation.
Setting out his New Year message, the Scottish Conservative politician said he will continue to press the SNP Government on several issues, including the controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) legislation and would greatly like to see an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr Fraser, a long-term campaigner for the dualling of the A9 Perth to Inverness road, has said he welcomes recently announced road safety measures which aim to reduce the horrendous number of deaths - 13, all on single carriageways - on the road in 2022.
Commenting, Mr Fraser, who represents the Mid Scotland and Fife region, said: “I fully welcome the range of road safety measures announced by the SNP Government, particularly the move to better educate tourists and foreign motorists on driving on Scotland’s roads, and improve signage. This follows on a meeting which I and a number of other MSPs had with the Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth, her officials, and the police, and I am pleased that some of the improvements we suggested are being taken forward.
“However, we still need the complete dualling of the A9 between Perth to Inverness as all the fatalities that have taken place in 2022 have been on single-stretch carriageways of the road. There have only been two dualling sections completed so far, over a course of 11 miles, so I will keep pressing the SNP Government on when and where the next dualling will take place.”
Mr Fraser continued: “A very pleasing aspect of my work in 2022 was attracting enough cross-party support from fellow MSPs to merit introducing my Members’ Bill on Fly-tipping. This means it will now be debated at Holyrood. The irresponsible, damaging and criminal dumping of refuse and waste at unauthorised locations leaves landowners and local authorities with the substantial costs of cleaning up.
“The Bill seeks to improve current laws surrounding fly-tipping in four main ways, including ensuring better data collection and reporting mechanisms on the number of fly-tipping incidents, ensuring strict liability on the generator of the waste for clearing it up and also increasing the current fixed-penalty notice threshold of £200.
“One of the main national issues of the past year has been the horrific war in Ukraine imposed by Russia, which unfortunately shows no sign of abating. We can be proud of the tremendous help and support given by the UK Government, but it is also worth mentioning the sterling efforts of so many local residents who have provided help to the stricken country.
“Let us hope and pray that this horrific war comes to an end this year (2023).”