Scotland’s Transport Secretary says there has not, and will not be, a formal internal review into why the A9 will not be dualled by the original 2025 timetable.

Mairi McAllan, the SNP Transport, New Zero and Just Transition Secretary confirmed no such review has taken place after being questioned by fellow SNP MSP, Fergus Ewing.

The Herald Newspaper says the cabinet secretary told the committee that there were two principal reasons why the project has fallen behind significantly – pointing to red tape and changes to classification for the not-for-profit funding model by the Office for National Statistics in 2014.

The paper quotes her as saying: “In terms of formal reviews, that hasn’t been done within government.

“But I am very clear…of the two principal causes of the delay.

“I think we have a well-established view of what the two principal causes are for delay.

“There hasn’t been a formal internal review but we review on an ongoing basis, the reasons for delay.”

Mr Ewing is quoted by the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald as criticising a defence that there as a lack of funds for the work. “The capital budget available to the Scottish Government a year is of the order between £4,000 million to £5,000 million. I think it’s reasonable to assume that will continue to be the case,” he said. “So by 2035 that suggests that there’s a total of £40,000-50,000 000 million available in the capital budget, the Highlands is wanting £3.7 billion, which is less than 10 percent of that.”

(Picture – Transport Scotland)