Report to the People
4th December 2006
Plane Railing
Private
Bills, to paraphrase Otto von Bismarck, are like sausages: it is better not to
see them being made.
But, until
the Transport and Works Bill makes it onto the statute books, a Private Bill -
that is, a Bill not introduced by the Executive, a backbench MSP or a Committee,
but by a body outside the parliament - is the only way to authorise a major rail
development.
And so it was
that MSPs met on Wednesday to complete the final stages of the Private Bill
which will authorise the building of the Glasgow Airport rail link.
Set to cost
between £170m and £210m, the link will see four trains an hour whisking
millions of travellers into Glasgow city centre in 15 minutes.
This Bill,
though, is about much more than making life easier for holidaymakers or the
Glasgow economy.
As the Chief
Executive of the body behind the Bill, Strathclyde Passenger Transport, put it,
“the link is vital for the future growth of the economy and in making the west
of Scotland a more attractive place to visit and do business.”
Better rail
links to the airport and the consequently more reliable, and possibly more
frequent, services to Glasgow will, for example, make Inverclyde an even more
attractive location for businesses.
Not only
that, becoming more accessible should make a trip to Inverclyde to marvel at our
breathtaking scenery or enjoy our new retail and leisure developments as much a
part of a holiday in Scotland as a look round Loch Lomond Shores.
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