Coupar Angus (Hansard, 23 February 1977)

§ 13. Mr. Crawford
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he next intends to visit Coupar Angus.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Frank McElhone)
My right hon. Friend has at present no plans to do so.

§ Mr. Crawford
The Minister will be aware that Coupar Angus straddles one of the main oil routes from Aberdeen to the South. Is he also aware of the shocking state of the road and of the potholes in it and in the related roads? Will he instruct the Scottish Development Department immediately to give the Tayside Regional Council £500,000 which it requires to repair the road? We on the SNP Bench will not take public expenditure cuts from this Government or the rag tag and bobtail of the Conservative Party.

§ Mr. McElhone
I shall confine my remarks to roads. Expenditure on road maintenance is normally revenue expenditure, which is under the control of the regional authority. For capital expenditure on road works, including improvements, the region was given £3.4 million in 1976–77. The allocation for 1977–78 is £3.25 million. It is for the region to decide how it wishes to spend that money, either on improvements or on creating new roads.

§ Mr. Robert Hughes
Will my hon. Friend persuade the Secretary of State to go to the village of Blairgowrie, very close 1402 to Coupar Angus, and visit Mr. John McEwan, who is carrying out a massive study of land ownership in Scotland? As the information is available in the Scottish Office, will my hon. Friend now publish it so that we may see the exact power of the landlords and landowners in Scotland?

§ Mr. McElhone
I have a great deal of sympathy with the point of view expressed by my hon. Friend. I shall take his comments into consideration.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
Will the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that, because of the particularly difficult weather conditions this winter, roads in areas such as that under discussion have taken a tremendously heavy hammering, as anyone who uses them must know? Will he give an assurance that in connection with oil-related development special consideration will be given to roads which are subjected to heavy traffic going to the oil areas—particularly the A94—in order to help local authorities in those areas?

§ Mr. McElhone
We have the extraordinary expenses allocation within the rate support grant for oil-related areas, but we are under expenditure constraints. The hon. Gentleman will acknowledge that we have increased the expenditure by a little for 1977–78, to the sum of £3.25 million for Tayside at least.