Anyway, I don't know why anyone is at all surprised by this. Here's an extract from the Spokes newsletter from September 2009 (my bold):
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The SNP Government has ignored the Scottish Parliament's Transport, Environment and Climate Change Committee recommendation to invest more in active travel, cycling and walking in the 2009/10 budget, as also in our Spokes budget submission.*
After 3 months of evidence-taking and scrutiny the only recommendation on the draft budget's spending plans by any Parliamentary Committee was higher active travel investment - and it would have cost a mere £20m to double existing cycle investment. Yet in 3 weeks of January politicking and horse-trading, and without detailed scrutiny, the government made other changes totalling over £100m, to gain the votes of other parties.
Why the months of intelligent and serious debate by well-paid MSPs and civil servants, days of preparation by many outside experts, if the government can dismiss Committee outcomes without any real consideration? The TICC recommendation was neither accepted nor rejected by the government – it was just ignored! Only when committee member Des McNulty MSP, in a full Parliamentary debate, reminded Cabinet Secretary John Swinney of the Spokes evidence and the TICC recommendation did Mr Swinney promise to 'consider' it – a consideration which appears not to have taken long!
So total cycle investment stays frozen around £20m, under 1% of transport spending, while the draft budget's £134m trunk-road increase grows to over £150m, with 3 more road projects thanks to 'accelerated capital spend.' Thus money is there – it's just a question of priorities.
The government still acts as if cycling is some kind of hobby, not a serious form of transport with huge potential in public health, energy security, and CO2 reduction, let alone in local accessibility and reduced congestion.
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You see the pattern here?
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