§ 49 and 50. Mr. Maclennanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will reconsider his decision not to authorise the road crossing of the Dornoch Firth;
(2) if, in the light of the industrial developments in the Inner Moray Firth area, he will now initiate an engineering survey for a road crossing of the Dornoch Firth.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellI have myself for some years past been aware of arguments in favour of such a scheme and called attention publicly to them. I have already promoted the bridging of the Beauly and Cromarty Firths and these schemes have been warmly welcomed. For the present I believe that design, engineering and money resources must be concentrated on improvement of the A9 between Perth and Invergordon, but the necessary studies will be put in hand as soon as I am able to envisage a place for a Dornoch Firth Bridge in the road programme.