New Petitions

The first new petition is PE1218, from Margot Russell, which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to bring forward a timed and costed programme of works for the grade separation of the Sheriffhall roundabout on the A720 to alleviate pressure and traffic problems on the new A68 Dalkeith bypass. The constituency member for the area, Rhona Brankin, has come along to speak to the petition, and I invite her to make a statement.

Sheriffhall roundabout is a well-known problem roundabout. It is used by 70,000 vehicles a day, and it is the only junction on the Edinburgh city bypass that is not grade separated. The problems affecting it cause major and serious hold-ups and have an impact on my constituents, many of whom work in Edinburgh, and on economic development in Midlothian, the city of Edinburgh, East Lothian and West Lothian. I will give you a flavour of the developments that are going to be taking place in the areas around the Sheriffhall junction. In Midlothian alone, by 2022, there will be around an additional 9,000 housing units, and there is scheduled to be an additional 81 hectares of development land, plus some land that will be developed at Millerhill, which could include a waste management facility. There is a potential expansion to 1,000 spaces at the Sheriffhall park-and-ride facility. Further, in Shawfair, which is an area to the south of Edinburgh, a 130-bedroom hotel is scheduled to open by 2009. There will also be additional retail development, and there is a proposal for a private hospital.The decisions of a number of local authorities will impact on the situation. The City of Edinburgh Council is planning some housing developments on the scale of 2,800 units in the area around the Sheriffhall roundabout. Also in that council's area, the centre for biomedical research is due to open at Little France, which is close to the roundabout. Many of the people who will work there, as well as at Edinburgh royal infirmary, will come from my constituency. Plans have been submitted to the council for a care home and a care village in the Edmonstone estate, which is near the roundabout.The west Edinburgh planning framework review has secured allocations to safeguard airport expansion, land for office headquarters and a new site for Scotland's national showground. There could also be an international business gateway in that area. Again, those developments will draw traffic from Midlothian, East Lothian and the Borders, which will have an effect on Sheriffhall.East Lothian has plans for more than 7,000 additional housing units. Many people from East Lothian travel to work in Edinburgh. Further, more than 71 hectares of land in East Lothian is designated as development land. There is the potential for Scottish Borders Council to allow the building of 8,400 houses, in addition to the current supply of 5,290 units. Some of that housing will have a regular impact on Sheriffhall junction.A comparison of the travel-to-work data in the 1991 and 2001 censuses is interesting. In 1991, 1,600 people travelled to Edinburgh from the Borders for work, but by 2001 that figure was 2,803, which represents a 75 per cent increase. That trend is likely to increase.The Sheriffhall roundabout is already a major pinch point for many people, and the situation will only get worse in the years to come. I urge the committee to consider seriously our petition in favour of grade separation.

I appreciate the tremendous pressures that Rhona Brankin has outlined at the location concerned and the area that surrounds the same. However, Nigel Don has a point. My understanding—I am a tiro member of the committee and ask for the convener's advice on the matter—is that we can press a general case on the national transport policy that the Scottish Government follows through Transport Scotland but we should not consider requests in respect of particular putative projects, however serious and legitimate they are. There is a problem there.

Perhaps the committee needs to consider urgently whether we should look at petitions on local matters. As a new member of the committee, I am not clear about that. It would be a good idea to seek clarity on the working out of transport issues—we all have our own agendas in that context—but an issue has been raised and given publicity, and I am not sure where we should go from here. Practically speaking, if Transport Scotland has recently looked at and made changes to Sheriffhall roundabout—perhaps Rhona Brankin can give us an update on that—there does not seem to be much point in writing to it again. However, I agree that we should ask for clarity on the national position on transport.

There are three or four issues. The initial discussion was about how we organise things, on which members have tried to get clarity. To use a cliché, we are in a chicken-and-egg situation, because certain issues cannot be raised, which is a difficulty. People say that they cannot get a petition through the system if it deals with a local issue, although the reality is that it is difficult for the committee to turn down dealing with such petitions, given the legislation that created the Parliament. We will always face that dilemma. However, we can try to get an awareness of whether we can pursue national issues as a result of petitions on local matters. The clerks can work on that over the next period.To be fair to members, two or three good suggestions have been made. Nanette Milne talked about considering the principles of grade separation. How do Transport Scotland and other agencies arrive at priorities in considering grade separation, including on the road that Sheriffhall roundabout is on? John Wilson spoke about writing to organisations about the impact on planned new developments, and I think that Robin Harper touched on assessments of environmental impacts. We must ensure that assessments are based on the appropriate information.From what committee members have said, I think that they want to keep the petition open, progress the recommendations that John Wilson identified and Nanette Milne touched on, and try to get responses. I do not know whether that is a reasonable suggestion that might assist local discussion of the issue.

Yes. The decision has been taken not to put in grade separation at this stage. Our submission is that the improvements that have been made at Sheriffhall are not solving the congestion and that, as Sheriffhall is a major part of Scotland's infrastructure, the failure to implement grade separation will not only be inconvenient but will have a major impact on the economy.

Thanks very much.

The reality is that because we have a principle whereby the clerk works with petitioners to ensure that petitions are admissible, most petitions are admissible if they are framed in the correct language. That is the right principle to adopt, and it means that regardless of whether a petition deals with a present-day situation or a projected future situation, or tries to influence the debate on a policy area, we must consider it.Many ordinary members of the public in Scotland come to the Public Petitions Committee. Constituency and regional members use the committee to highlight particular issues. I do not think that we can resolve matters, but we will take on board what members have said about some of the practical issues and ask Fergus Cochrane to employ the wisdom of Solomon as he tries to reconcile those contested issues for our benefit.Ultimately, how we interpret a petition is down to the judgment that we as members of the Public Petitions Committee make on a given day. Some of us might want to pursue an issue, whereas others might be more protective of the committee's role. We will take on board what members have said and try to make progress. The suggestions that have been made are helpful.I thank Rhona Brankin for her time.