Maiden Speech Made

Today provided me my first opportunity to make a contribution in the Scottish Parliament chamber. The speech was on a topic that I hadn't really envisaged making my first contribution, being as it was on rural development.

I was born and brought up in Glasgow, so this may at first glance seem an odd choice. However, the Central Scotland region I represent has a large number of rural communities within it. Most people probably think of it as a fairly urbanised part of the world, and whilst this is in the main quite true, it is fair to point to the large rural part of Central Scotland as well.

That was why I was delighted to be able to speak today (and also delighted to hear the excellent maiden speech in the same debate of my friend Aileen Campbell). Rural communities in Central Scotland and beyond will welcome the £1.6billion that the Rural Development Programme announced by the SNP government today. Equally they will welcome commitments to assisting the rural economy.

To that end I was glad to be able to highlight two local cases which require attention to assist rural communities in Central Scotland. Firstly I was able to point out the need to upgrade the A803 road that stretches from Glasgow through Kilsyth and on to Falkirk. This road is a vital artery for many rural communities in Central Scotland and is to be frank not fit for purpose, having to deal with a volume of traffic that it wasn't designed for. The road is the responsibility of the local authorities whose area it snakes through and not the Scottish Executive's per say.

However I look forward to working with the new government to encourage local authorities to make improvements to Scotland's rural roads network. Improving the A803 would be of great social and economic benefit to those rural communities served by it.

I was also able to highlight the problem of poor bus services in rural Central Scotland - citing the specific example of services from Kilsyth to Monklands Hospital. Poor public transport links are holding back people in rural communities from being able to get around to recreate, do business or in the specific example I give, visit ill friends and relatives in hospital. We need to make improvements to rural public transport.

Rural development is a national urgency, and I am glad that the new SNP government is treating it as such.