"Not good financial management” - Scottish transport leader slams funding regime

The head of the west of Scotland’s transport authority has slammed the Scottish funding regime as “not good financial management”.

Speaking at a Strathclyde Partnership for Transport-organised fringe meeting at the Scottish Labour conference, SPT Chief Executive Valerie Davidson made
a “plea” for “powers, levers and long-term funding”.

She said: “Just to put that into context, SPT’s long-term funding is - we can only budget and plan our investments based on what we’re getting when we’re told
in December, for the March or the April start. You cannot plan a transport network on that basis. It’s not feasible, it’s not sensible, and it is not good financial management.

“I would also make another request: we need government to support us, any government, all government. We need the process to be much more slick - effectively not to mark our homework, but to support us make progress and take us forward.

“We need a planning system that supports development and economic development, but in a quick way, with speed, and which recognises the importance of transport for economic growth.”

SPT was established in the 1970s to run, plan and expand public transport in the Greater Glasgow area, but had its wings clipped when the national agency Transport Scotland was created in 2006.

The agency gets funding from both the Scottish government and the local authorities it covers. SNP ministers at Holyrood have said their hands are tied by short-term funding from Westminster.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “People living, working in, and visiting Glasgow are already benefiting from new modernised trains. We have provided major funding for the SPT-led Subway Modernisation project - the most significant investment and improvement programme to be undertaken in the subway in the last 40 years.

“People and communities will benefit from further improvements with the ongoing renewal and upgrade of subway infrastructure and more new trains.

All this works to make Glasgow’s Subway more attractive and accessible, with more space than before for wheelchair users or people carrying prams - all helping to encourage a shift away from cars and towards sustainable public transport.”