Same old themes 50 years later!

EWAN LAMB uncovers some old Borders 'chestnuts'

Research by Not Just Sheep & Rugby has confirmed that two of the key issues facing the soon to be constituted South of Scotland Enterprise Agency (SOSEA) were exercising the minds of economic development officials and leading councillors up to half a century ago.

A number of written submissions to the Scottish Government in 2018 have described the problems associated with inadequate east to west road links and have called for minor routes to be improved if the Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway are to gain maximum benefit from an expanding forestry industry.

The very fact that these two topics are likely to feature in SOSEA's in-tray when it opens for business in 2020 suggests nothing much has been achieved since the 1970s when intensive lobbying was taking place to have an east-west "highway" constructed to link Berwick-on-Tweed with the M74 motorway, and approaches were being made to the "Common Market" for up to £4 million to widen and strengthen forestry roads.

Even Highlands & Islands Enterprise has spotted the fact that modern day cross country [east to west] traffic faces serious difficulties in the South of Scotland.

In their submission on SOSEA the Highlands agency says: "Despite the region being relatively well served by strategic transportation links, there remain significant challenges, particularly east-west links which are a barrier to regional cohesion and growth."

A newspaper report from May 1971 which we tracked down carried the headline 'PLANS FOR EAST-WEST ROAD LINKS BEING STUDIED'. The article was written two years after a group of roads surveyors first formulated plans for a designated east to west route.

According to the newspaper story: "Roads officials in the Borders said it was realised it could be ten years before all improvement schemes on an east-west route were completed". The concept was, at the time, being studied by the Scottish Development Department.

A year later another article declared: 'ROAD FROM BORDERS TO WEST VITAL NOW, REPORT CLAIMS'. The text says: "A proposal to create a high speed east-west road between Berwick-on-Tweed and Glasgow through the Borders cannot be shelved any longer, a report on communications by Berwickshire County Planning Department says".

And the report concluded: "Without improvement to this part of the infrastructure, Berwickshire and the whole region will continue to be in difficulties in providing work opportunities for their existing population and the population decline will continue unabated.

"There is no doubt that a communications system compatible with an industrialised society is a key factor if the Borders region is to play an important part in the economic growth of Scotland".

Failure to address this important issue over a 47-year period probably means the south-eastern corner of Scotland has missed out on economic prosperity to a significant degree. So will SOSEA be able to grasp the nettle and provide the resources for the long planned east-west highway?

Meanwhile Roland Stiven, projects officer for the Timber Transport Forum (TTF), has advanced a compelling case for significant investment to upgrade the network of B and C class roads to accommodate the region's growing timber "exports".

In his written submission on SOSEA Mr Stiven explains that In Scottish Borders the forestry resource is 18% of land cover and timber production is forecast to rise from one million cubic metres to 1.5 million cubic metres per year over the next decade.

In Dumfries & Galloway the 26% forest cover will increase production from 1.5m cubic metres to two million cubic metres in the same period.

He argues: "Most roads are either single tracked with passing places or very narrow twin tracked roads with poor geometry and limited strength with limited capacity for modern 44 tonne lorries which are the industry standard.

"Two and a half million tonnes per year is equivalent to 100,000 lorry loads so 300-400 lorry loads each day. We would like to see South Scotland use this demand for improved infrastructure to focus investment in rural road infrastructure, addressing the needs of the timber sector and providing benefits for the wider rural economy. 

"Ensure the modern forestry and timber processing sector can continue to develop and expand with more forests, more investment in modern processing, skilled labour and added value to timber products - creating more employment and more economic activity. Forestry and timber can provide a spearhead for wider rural economic activity and productive land use."

Mr Stiven adds  that the road and rail infrastructure is far from good. It has some good North South links for those passing through but internal connectivity and east to west links are very poor especially in the Scottish Borders.

The TTF says: "Already timber transport is restricted from many forest areas - restrictions on numbers of lorries, frequency of lorries, seasonal restrictions, special lorry configurations to try to minimise the impact on the fabric of the road. 

"The poor road capacity also results in timber traffic impacting more on other road users and the people who live and work in the area. So the timber industry which is a modern, well paid, carbon positive, manufacturing, rural success story is seen as a negative by some rural residents."

Many of TTF's arguments were being put forward to the powers that be 40 years ago, according to our research.

'ROADS PROBLEM THREATENS BORDERS TIMBER INDUSTRY' reads the headline on a newspaper article from September 1978. The story says: "Forestry, the fastest growing industry in the Borders, could fail to achieve even a fraction of its potential unless roads authorities in the region can get at least £1 million and possibly £4 million from either the Common Market or the Scottish Development Agency".

One council leader warned at the time that unless money was made available to carry out improvements there was no doubt the Borders would be faced with appalling problems.

He said: "A single vehicle weighing 32 tons can cause more damage to bridges [on minor routes] than 100 cars. We live on the edge of one of the largest man-made forests in Europe and we want to capitalise on the industry that will be created during the next few years".

So on this evidence it seems the South of Scotland has an unfortunate reputation for taking a very long time to get things done.