The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Transport improvements for Highlands and North East

17/11/2003

The Highlands and North East are set to benefit from new funding to improve public transport.

The money can be used to help support ferry services and secure improvements to the bus infrastructure, such as bus stops, better bus information, park and ride facilities, bus priority measures and projects to make cycling and walking more attractive.

The regional HITRANS partnership has received £1.345 million for projects in the Highlands, and in the North East, NESTRANS has received £1.295 million.

Transport Minister Nicol Stephen made the announcements today when he spoke at conferences in both Nairn and Aberdeenon the proposed transport agency forScotlandand new regional transport partnerships of local authorities.

Mr Stephens said:

"We must focus on improving public transport and that is frequently best achieved by a co-ordinated regional approach. Today I am awarding £1,345,038 to improve public transport in the Highlands and £1,295,425 to improve public transport in North East Scotland.

"I want the regional bodies and local authorities to work together to use this money to secure improvements, for example, to the bus infrastructure, such as bus stops, better bus information, park and ride facilities, bus priority measures and projects to make cycling and walking more attractive. The funding could also be used to help support ferry services in the Highlands.

"We can help build strong communities and tackle poverty by connecting people to each other through better transport links. The key to this is joint working between local authorities and transport providers and that is why this funding will be distributed to projects through the regional HITRANS partnership.

"One of the biggest challenges we face is the need to make public transport more attractive, safer and more sustainable in order to promote economic growth and to connect our communities.

"Scotland's local authorities will play a vital role in delivering better transport services. We have the resources in place - with spending on transport rising to £1 billion a year by 2006 - we must now agree the best way forward to deliver the benefits this investment will bring.

"By setting up an agency we can better integrate the way services are delivered and improve the quality of people's journeys. I want a framework that allows people to deliver to the best of their ability and regional conferences will help in agreeing how that framework might look.

"Working together will be crucial to our success. Local authorities, the regional partnerships, transport authorities and the Executive will all have an important role to play in bringing these improvements forward."

The Minister attended the NESTRANS conference in Aberdeen, followed by the HITRANS event in Nairn, and will be at an event in Edinburghon 18 November as part of a series of conferences being held by the voluntary regional transport partnerships to discuss how best to deliver services in their area.

A national conference to be hosted by the Scottish Executive will be held in Glasgow at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre on November 25.

The transport agency will help deliver significant investments to secure improvements such as extending concessionary fare schemes, supporting direct air routes to Scotland and integrating improvements to roads and public transport.

Scotland's Transport: Proposals for a new approach to transport inScotland was published in September and the consultation will close on 17 December 2003.

NESTRANS is a regional transport partnership responsible for private and public transport as well as transport infrastructure in North East Scotland. It is a joint committee made up of transport representatives from Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Scottish Enterprise Grampian and Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce.

HITRANS is a regional transport partnership responsible for private and public transport as well as transport infrastructure in North East Scotland. It is a joint committee made up of transport representatives from seven local authorities, the Highlands and Islands Public Transport Forum, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Council Development and Industry.

The £1,295,452 in funding for NESTRANS and £1,345,038 for HITRANS projects comes from the Other Public Transport budget.