£ millions written off as ousted Glasgow Airport Rail Link firms move back
for the rail link.
for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link are being offered the land back at a fraction
of the original cost to taxpayers.
confirmed it is in negotiations with a number of businesses whose properties were
obtained using compulsory purchase powers and now have first right of refusal
to buy back the land.
the cancelled airport branch line appear to have foundered as the land, located
on an industrial estate near St James railway station in Paisley, has lost a significant
amount of value in the housing market crash, according to property experts.
were demolished, along with supporting infrastructure, to make way for a junction
with the existing railway.
by Labour to reinstate the project if it is returned to power in the Scottish
Parliamentary elections next May.
"This is a blatant attempt to sabotage Labour’s plans to reinstate Garl and a
complete waste of public money.
the Garl Act and it has already cost more than £40m in cancellation costs."
originally backed Garl before handing over responsibility to Transport Scotland
in 2008, agreed to compensate a number of businesses on the industrial estate
and relocate football pitches at nearby St James playing fields.
12 businesses, with all but two of them obtained using compulsory purchase orders
(CPOs), but refused to say what additional payments were made to compensate businesses
for the cost of relocating or closing down.
in the deal, of which only £715,000 was paid for the sale of land. Others have
complained that they were given far lower amounts in compensation and are still
pursuing claims against Transport Scotland.
relocating his property holding firm, Kenyart, and three adjoining businesses
which rented land from him.
took little account of the £16,500 annual rental earned from three businesses
as they were on short-term leases.
us £5000 a year in rental income, less than a third of what we earned previously,"
Mr Wilson said.
in early were paid millions of pounds and we’ve been offered a paltry amount.
I think they ran out of money after the first deals were done."
there was a legal obligation to dispose of land that was considered to be "surplus
to requirements".
"As in all commercial transactions values are determined by the market and not
necessarily what the seller would seek."
the local Land Valuer. Its spokesman also said compensation payments given to
Airlink were "commercially confidential".
contacted by The Herald but declined to comment.
and the public coffers were in a much healthier state, the Glasgow Airport Rail
Link came to be seen by the Scottish Government as a project whose business fundamentals
no longer stacked up against other major transport investments.
passing from its original backers Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT)
to Government agency Transport Scotland a year earlier.
airport campus, which already threatened to blow its £210m budget before major
construction work had started.
has not been easy. Information obtained by Wendy Alexander, Labour MSP for Paisley
North, through parliamentary questions earlier this year revealed that more than
£40m has so far been spent on the airport branch line, with nothing to show for
it.
its cancellation, and have refused to be mollified by investment in other major
transport projects such as the M74 completion and M80 upgrade.
link if it wins the election next May? Although the plan remains politically popular,
getting it passed during a time of unprecedented public-service cuts would be
a tall order.