North alliance with Scotland jeopardised by high-speed rail snub

Sep 24 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

“Proximity to Edinburgh presents significant opportunities for strengthening economic, business, trade and tourism links,” he said.

“It is also significant that the Scottish Parliament's Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee in its Report on High Speed Rail for Scotland earlier this year, recommended any plans for high speed rail must involve close dialogue between the Scottish Parliament and UK Government.”

The association has been in discussions with the South East Scotland Transport Partnership which brings together local authorities in the Edinburgh, Lothian and Scottish Borders areas.

Last night Edinburgh chamber of commerce accused the Government of building the line “from a London bias” and of failing to see the real economic benefits.

Their transport spokesman Graham Bell said: “Businesses along the east coast are significant customers to businesses here and vice versa.

“So it makes perfect sense for businesses to have an east coast route. But we have to recognise that these proposals are not going to happen overnight.”

Russell Imrie, chair of the South East Scotland Transport partnership, said: “The proposal suggests that our region will have fully fledged high speed rail connections with London and key English cities via both East Coast and West Coast routes – but we are slightly concerned that the proposed link between Edinburgh and Newcastle is not to the same high specification as the rest of the network.”