Edinburgh's Sheriffhall roundabout: Flyover scheme should be halted say transport campaigners

Edinburgh's new £120 million Sheriffhall flyover should be halted and the funding redirected to active travel and public transport projects, campaigners have said.

The flyover scheme, which includes a redesigned roundabout, was allocated central government cash in the City Deal for the Capital and South East Scotland agreed in 2018, but no work has yet started on the project, which is designed to ease congestion at the busiest junction on the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass.

Transform Scotland wants the Sheriffhall flyover and improvements to the roundabout halted, along with all other new road schemes funded under the City Deals.

Now transport campaign group Transform Scotland has published a report on City Deals across the country, claiming that more than 70 per cent of transport infrastructure investment in the deals – equivalent to nearly £1 billion – is funding high-carbon road projects which it says directly undermine Scotland’s 2045 net zero strategy, as well as increasing congestion and damaging public health.

The report, Dirty Deals, calls for a Scottish Parliament inquiry into the issue, an immediate halt to new road-building projects in Scotland, and reprioritisation of funding to reduce inequalities and promote active travel and public transport.

On the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, the report says: "Transport spending in this deal is dominated by building a new roundabout at Sheriffhall (£107 million) and relief/spur roads for the A701 and A702 (£51 million). Together, these projects will significantly increase capacity for motor vehicles on and around the Edinburgh city bypass, at a time when the Scottish Government and local authorities have targets for reducing car use.

"There are also significant and much-needed active travel and public transport projects, including the West Edinburgh Transport Improvement Programme (£36 million), but they are overshadowed by the vast sums being spent to increase road capacity."

Transform Scotland says building new roads, particularly motorways and dual carriageways, benefits the better off who have access to cars. It points out that between 51 and 60 per cent of Scottish households at the lowest income levels have no access to a car, with Edinburgh among those worse than the Scottish average.

Transform Scotland director Colin Howden said: "The City Deals provided an opportunity for transformational investment in transport in our cities, but local and national politicians have instead blown the cash on a new round of road-building that will inevitably generate more traffic and higher emissions. 

"These politicians could have decided to reduce inequalities by investing in public transport and in our streets, but instead they decided to worsen inequalities and increase climate emissions by spending public funds on schemes that will further benefit the more affluent.

"We’re fed up with Scotland's political class mouthing empty platitudes about ‘net zero’ and ‘anti-poverty’ yet decade after decade making deliberate decisions to build new infrastructure that makes the country’s climate failure more and more certain, and neglects to provide fairer access to transport for the country’s poorest."