Supreme Court rejects bypass appeal

Oct 17 2012

An appeal against a controversial city bypass has been rejected by the UK's highest court.

The UK Supreme Court unanimously dismissed William Walton's third challenge to the £400 million Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).

Scottish ministers approved the 28-mile AWPR in 2009 after a four-month public inquiry, despite a raft of local objections.

The scheme includes a bypass and separate fastlink road from Stonehaven.

Mr Walton, chairman of pressure group Road Sense, argued that the fastlink had been adopted without the consultation required by the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (SEA), and that the scope of the public inquiry should have included the question whether the fastlink was required.

In his summary, supreme court judge Lord Reed said that no strategic environmental assessment was needed as the scheme was classified as a project rather than a modification of a plan or programme.

The Government spent £1.1 million of taxpayers' cash defending Mr Walton's initial challenge at the Court of Session which was dismissed by Lord Tyre last August. A subsequent appeal was rejected this February.

Aberdeen City Council leader Barney Crockett said: "The AWPR will have a major and very positive effect on traffic and congestion levels in and around Aberdeen. It is a key piece of the region's infrastructure jigsaw which will allow better access to and movement around the city, creating an even more attractive business, leisure, retail, and tourism destination. We will be working closely with our partners in the scheme, Aberdeenshire Council and the Scottish Government, to move as fast as we can to get construction under way and allow easier and better access to the many exciting developments in and around the city."

However, environmental campaigners said they were disappointed.

Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy at WWF Scotland, said: "Miles more expensive tarmac around Aberdeen will do little to help the ordinary citizen and will soon generate yet more traffic to fill it up. Scotland has already missed its first climate target, and road transport is one of the few sectors where emissions have risen since 1990. A new bypass round Aberdeen will only make this worse."