Published: Wednesday, 9th January, 2008 10:30
Meeting hopes to keep rail project on track
By Susie Penman
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Nicholas Watson, the Borders party councillor, hopes the meeting will open up the debate
THE Waverly Railway Project debate is one that has trudged on in the Borders for years now, morphing from hopeful development to financial burden to detrimental frivolity—depending on how one looks at it.
On January 16th, however, the public will have a chance to speak up about the Project in an open debate held at 7.30 in the Newtown St Boswells Village Hall.
The meeting, which is open to the general public, is being organised by the Borders Party and is an attempt to shed some light on the Project.
Nicholas Watson, Borders Party councillor, said “We hope that it will open up the debate, because as far as we can see the only proper debate about the rail has been in the pages of the local press,” he said, pointing out that though some councillors were nervous about the railway, political pressure forbid them to talk about it very openly.
Locals aren’t the only ones to attend the meeting, however.
Professor Chris Harvie, MSP, will be a guest speaker, and will be speaking in favour of the railway.
Borders Party councillor Sandy Aitchison said of Professor Harvie, “He’s somebody who supports the railway. He’s quite vehemently for it and obviously the Borders Party policy is quite at odds with his view. This debate is an attempt to sort of re-debate the whole issue of the railway, which has been long in coming and we’ve been held in a kind of limbo for years with this promised railway.”
Councillor Watson added: “What we wanted to do was to try and have a proper open debate about the railway, the fors and the againsts. So I will be against and [Professor Harvie] will be for and we’ll have an open debate with questions from the floor.”
Mr Watson did point out, however, the importance of the neutrality of the meeting—which explains why Jack Clark, the head auctioneer of John Swan Ltd, is to chair the debate.
“If he can handle a whole bunch of angry farmers I’m certain he can handle us,” he said.
Though the SBC has been given by Parliament the powers to purchase the land for the railway, it will only go ahead if the funding is available.
“Although the bill has passed in the Scottish parliament, it is by no means certain that it’ll be built,” Mr Watson said, pointing out that other priorities, such as the new Forth crossing, are considered more important.
Mr Aitchison said, however, that of primary importance right now is simply that the general public remain well-informed about the railway so that they can make up their minds.
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