Scottish News @ ScottishTimes SNP Press Release: US ACADEMIC ADDS WEIGHT TO CASE FOR HS2 TO SCOTLAND SCOTTISH CENTRAL BELT IDENTIFIED AS A ‘MEGA REGION’ Professor Richard Florida, recently named as one of the most influential academics in the world, has said that Scotland’s economic recovery needs to be enhanced by greater connectivity to markets and further infrastructure investment. In an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Business Scotland programme this morning (Saturday) and repeated tomorrow, Professor Florida described how he identified Scotland’s central belt as a ‘mega region’ and the benefits of fast connectivity to other ‘mega regions’ – for example London. He said: “If we’re going to stretch our city borders out and build bigger economies, true mega regions, it is fast trains that enable us to really increase the scale and scope of our mega regions…One key thing is not only the mega region itself connected by fast transit, better transit but the connections between the mega regions in a country or adjacent countries is critical.” Commenting on the interview, Angus MacNeil MP, SNP Transport spokesperson at Westminster, said: “Every day we come across another issue which shows that Westminster is working against Scotland’s interests when it comes to economic recovery - in this case in relation to transport links and infrastructure. “We know that the entire aviation industry, the airlines and the airport operators are desperate to see action on Air Passenger Duty - a tax on Scottish air travellers which is doing more harm than good. “We see the continued eye watering level of fuel duties – which hit rural business and families particularly hard - and of course we now see HS2 possibly slipping away under a mixture of opposition from backbench Tories and spiralling costs, years before a mile of track is even laid. “We know that Scotland’s industry needs good links –air, rail and road, and Professor Florida’s words should be heeded. “We know that unfair fuel duties hamper all kinds of businesses from tourism to haulage, and that the power over APD should be devolved to Holyrood now. Unfortunately we also know that Westminster isn’t listening, which means the on,y way we can achieve this is with a Yes vote next September." Link to Business Scotland , BBC Radio Scotland bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xyg5h Professor Richard Florida : Biog Notes martinprosperity.org/people/richard-florida/ Link to Massachusetts Institute of Technology press release which ranks Professor Florida as the most influential thinker in the world ( Aug 2013) technologyreview/view/518026/network-analysis-reveals-worlds-most-influential-thinkers/ Warnings from the managers of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen Airports on APD: news.stv.tv/north/218869-scotlands-airports-fear-that-air-passenger-duty-could-stop-millions-flying/.-
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 20:01:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015