April Column 2

Written by Malcolm Bruce MP on Sat 15th Apr 2006

Watching rural vets at work

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The two weeks of the Easter Parliamentary Recess are not holiday but they do give me time to get out and about locally, catch up on paperwork, meet constituents and go home every night and spend time with my family.

Gordon MSP Nora Radcliffe and I spent time with Huntly vet Richard Brown and his colleagues.

I was looking mostly at the farm side of the business, accompanying Richard to farm visits and also watching a ewe being delivered of twin lambs and a calf with a broken leg being re-splintered and plastered.

Nora saw more of the small animal work with operations on a number of family pets and an attempt to rehabilitate an abandoned and mistreated stray dog.

Richard, who has an interesting range of veterinary experience, including in Belize and Hong Kong, is clearly dedicated to his work and to the rural community around Huntly. He has whatever is the vet equivalent of a reassuring bedside manner.

Vets are vital in a farming community and require a huge range of knowledge and experience of different animals and the afflictions that can affect them. Yet the difficulties that have affected farming in recent years have inevitably had an affect that discourages newly qualified vets coming into large animal work.

Pets and horses may be more lucrative but in a large rural area round Huntly would not be enough to support a practice.

Farmers are inevitably cost conscious but most have a full understanding both of the economic value of healthy beasts and a genuine commitment to the welfare of sick animals.

I hope the partnership between the rural community and their local vet is one that will continue to survive and can thrive in an area like ours.

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Keeping the A96 under constant review

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Transport issues have once again been to the fore in the past few weeks.

There has been a spate of accidents on the A96, which brings into sharp focus the need for continuous review and upgrading of this road, which is the key link between Scotland's two northernmost cities.

I had the opportunity to drive Transport Minister, Tavish Scott, between Elgin and Aberdeen Airport and show him some of the pinch points (including, of course, the Inveramsay Bridge).

I explained to him that simple traffic statistics or one-off sampling of conditions on the road does not really give the whole picture. Congestion is patchy depending on time of day, school holidays, weather, etc. These and the long stretches that still exist without safe passing places lead to delays, frustrations and contribute to accidents of which, tragically, there have been a spate recently.

People, must, of course drive with due regard to the conditions and not all do, putting not only their own lives at risk but also those of other more responsible road users. Nevertheless the A96 is a vital artery that needs to be under constant review for upgrade and improvement.

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Support needed for new Don crossing

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Other transport issues are also moving up the priority list. Aberdeen City will accept representations on the proposed new bridge over the River Don until May 3.

I know this is controversial in some quarters but I believe it is a necessary provision for the thousands of people living in the Bridge of Don and communities to the north through to Ellon and beyond. I urge people who agree with this to write to Aberdeen City Council expressing their backing.

Often, on planning matters, it is only the objectors who make their views known but it is equally important for supporters to do so also.

This is also true about Aberdeen Airport's phased expansion plans. I know there will be some objections, especially from people close to the airport or the flight paths and their views must be given proper consideration.

Nevertheless, the airport is crucial to our local economy as well as enabling scattered families to be together more often. New routes will not materialise if the airport cannot offer capacity and flexibility - not necessarily to schedule night flights but to enable delayed flights to get in so that the following day's schedule is not further disrupted and passengers and/or airline put to extra expense and inconvenience.

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The local case for climate change actions

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In all these issues, people natural raise the question of climate change and the need to curb the growth of air and road traffic. I am certainly aware of this and strongly support actions to tackle climate change and its impact.

That is why I support a commuter train service from Inverurie to Stonehaven, which could include a new station at Kintore and an underground airport link at Dyce - if the runway extension goes ahead.

It is why I support park and ride, bus lanes and other initiatives to encourage more people to use public transport. (I would love to see trams back in Aberdeen).

I have long campaigned for investment in the Aberdeen to London rail link, which should be prioritised if we are to encourage people off the roads and air routes and onto trains. People will not forswear the plane to London while it takes most of a working day to get there.

Video conferencing and video phone links could reduce the number of air journeys but people will still want to meet and take holidays. Our improved airlinks are bringing more visitors to the North East as well as facilitating holidays for local people from here.

The political difficulties are not hard to find. Taxing four by fours heavily makes sense for Hampstead but not for Huntly. Windfarms have a contribution to make but do not command universal support. The USA and Australia are not prepared to sign up to emission reductions.

These issues should be tackled at national and international levels and I am co-chairing an international forum addressing exactly how. In the meantime the North East is entitled to bring its local infrastructure up towards standards which have been long established in other parts of the country.

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Glen Garioch renewal

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On the tourist front I was delighted to attend the opening of the new visitor centre at Glen Garioch distillery in Oldmeldrum. I guess it is more than thirty years since I first visited the distillery, in the early days of Glen Garioch as a single malt.

There have been a number of developments since then. For a period the distillery became more famous for its tomatoes than its whisky. Then it was closed for a couple of years and faced redevelopment for housing. Fortunately, the historic nature of the buildings and planning controls led to a positive reassessment of its role for making whisky.

Glen Garioch is now emerging as a single malt of distinctive character produced in Scotland's easternmost distillery conveniently close to Aberdeen. This should make the visitor centre a natural draw for any visitor to Aberdeen looking for an authentic whisky experience, including traditional malting, peat drying and, of course, a dram to prove the quality of the product.

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Moray by-election confusion

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The Moray by-election has been a feature of my recess. My family and I have been actively engaged in walkabouts, leafleting, labelling, folding and all the usual tasks that go with a busy by-election.

The response to local Liberal Democrat candidate, Linda Gorn, has been extremely positive. As a Moray Councillor, Linda knows the issues but has not been tainted, for example by previous SNP, Labour or the current Independents threat to local schools and poor delivery on other services.

The Conservative campaign has gone down very badly, with their candidate being endorsed by councillors who had previously claimed to be Independent and apparently denying her Conservative credentials in spite having just resigned as a Conservative list MSP.

This raises the question of whether she knows that the Tories can't win so she is trying to masquerade as an Independent or does it mean, what we always suspected, that most of the so-called Moray Independent Councillors having stood as Independents are in reality closet Tories? Either way this kind of deceit isn't winning any votes.

There is also another conundrum puzzling voters. The Tory and the SNP candidate, have both resigned as MSPs to stand for election in order - er - to become an MSP!

School, transport, health services, better paid employment are among the local issues concerning voters in Moray. The result is by no means a foregone conclusion. After the Dunfermline by-election triumph and a victory in Glasgow where the Liberal Democrat came from fourth place there is recognition that the party is on the say up. Anything is possible.