Skye bids for toll-free link
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by David Craik • Campaign group Skye and Kyle Against Tolls is confident that a new National Audit Office report has boosted its chances of abolishing the tolls on the Skye bridge. But the group warns that it "will not wait for ever".
The report reveals that total toll costs for hauliers regularly using the Skye Bridge could have been almost 10% lower but for major concessions made to the developers by the Scottish Office.
SKAT campaign secretary Myrna Montcrieff says: "The report shows bidder MillerDywidag invested half-a-million pounds into the bridge. Public spending amounts to £15m. This vindicates all that we thought was going on."
Montcrieff argues that had the Government not been so dogmatic about completing the project with private finance a toll-free bridge could have been built for no more than the £15m already spent in public money. If the Government had waited just a few months European Community funding would have been available for the project, she says.
"We hope the report gives the new government a basis on which to deliver to us a toll-free bridge," says Montcrieff. "We are prepared to hold fire and wait to see what it will do. We will not, however, wait for ever. This community should not have to pay for the Tories' mistakes and incompetence any longer."
The National Audit Office's report into the private finance initiative scheme found that the Scottish Office was unable to bring competition to bear in the deal's final stages. It received fewer bidders than expected.
Secretary of State Donald Dewar has written to Highland Council convener Peter Peacock, inviting him to a meeting to discuss the toll issue. Highland Council opposes the tolls.