This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Grants to take freight off the roads
25/03/2003
More than 1.3 million lorry miles will be removed each
year from Scotland's roads following three awards of
Freight Facilities Grants (FFG) totalling almost £4
million.
An award of over £460,000 has been made by the
Executive to the Cheshire-based company, Salt Union
Limited, to develop the movement of highways de-icing salt
from Cheshire to Scotland by rail, including the
construction of a Salt Dome storage facility at
Grangemouth.
This complements an award of nearly £180,000 FFG from
the Strategic Rail Authority to Salt Union. These two
awards will allow for more than 40,000 tonnes of salt to be
transported to the new facility by rail each year removing
over 240,000 lorry miles from Scotland's roads each year
over 5 years.
The Deputy Transport Minister, Lewis Macdonald said,
"This award of FFG benefits not only Salt Union
Limited but also highlights the growing and important role
that Grangemouth is playing in rail freight in Scotland."
Mr Macdonald also welcomed two other awards of
Freight Facilities Grant made by the Department for
Transport (DfT) to CLYDEboyd, a joint venture between
Clydeport and Boyd Brothers of Corpach, and to Iggesund
Paperboard for their timber project at Portavadie, Loch
Fyne, Argyll.
The award of £3.3 million will help CLYDEboyd to
develop new port facilities at Corpach, near Fort William.
This award for the development of Corpach pier will allow
86,000 tonnes of freight each year, mainly timber and road
salt, to be transported by sea rather than road, removing
over 780,000 lorry miles annually from Scotland's roads.
David Jamieson, DfT Minister for Shipping, said:
"I am delighted that we were able to offer a higher
than normal level of grant in this exceptional case. Not
only have we been able to ensure that the traffic already
using Corpach Pier can continue to do so but that the
improved facilities which will now be put in place with
grant support will attract significant additional freight.
"Altogether this will remove eight million lorry
miles in Scotland over the next ten years, bringing real
benefits to the environment and the air that we breathe. I
wish Clydeport plc and Boyd Brothers every success with
this exciting new venture."
Jonathan Riley, Executive Director for Freight at the
Strategic Rail Authority said:
"The economic and environmental benefit to Scotland
of getting freight off of roads and on to rail is clear for
all to see. We are delighted to have awarded funding to
Salt Union Ltd for capital investment to improve their rail
freight handling capability and commend the efforts of all
those parties who have contributed to the project."
Mr Macdonald added:
"I am delighted that this project which we fully
support, and indeed on which we carried out the initial
assessmenthas eventually been given the green light by the
EC. The project will realise significant environmental
benefits for the West Highlands."
The second DfT award of £223,000 was made to Iggesund
Paperboard towards the capital cost of the renovation of
the pier, forestry roads and other associated equipment
required at Portavadie, Argyll. This award will remove
over 300,000 lorry miles from Scotland's roads each year
enabling over 350,000 tonnes of timber to be transported by
sea from Portavadie to ports in Ayrshire and Workington
,Cumbria, over the five years of the project.
The Scottish Executive has also announced a further
award of Track Access Grant (TAG) to English, Welsh and
Scottish (EWS) railways. TAG is designed to defray some of
the costs of placing freight onto rail and to make rail
freight more competitive with road haulage.
EWS have been awarded a TAG of up to £235,000 per
year for the movement of timber from various locations
throughout Scotland to locations in England and Wales.
The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has made an award
of FFG totalling £178,619 to Salt Union Ltd for capital
expenditure at the company's mine at Winsford, Cheshire,
including infrastructure improvements and loading
equipment.
Under the Government's FFG scheme, grants are
available towards the capital costs of equipment for rail,
coastal and short sea shipping, and inland waterway freight
transport in cases where this traffic would otherwise move
by road.