Lochaber Chamber of Commerce calls for urgent action by Scottish and UK Governments on major traffic congestion in Fort William

Lochaber Chamber of Commerce calls for the Scottish and UK Governments and Transport Scotland to take urgent action on traffic congestion in Fort William that has been strangling businesses and the community for years.

Traffic congestion in and around Fort William is at a crisis point. With no resilience and no indication of any steps to address the serious issues that strangle the growth and effectiveness of Lochaber businesses, Lochaber Chamber of Commerce is calling for urgent action by the Scottish and UK Governments and Transport Scotland.

Frazer Coupland, CEO of Lochaber Chamber of Commerce, has one request of the Scottish Government: “Engage with our business communities and create a plan for the road network that Fort William needs and deserves.

“The west highlands urgently need a road network that is fit for purpose. Over the last six years alone, the Lochaber Chamber of Commerce has held meetings with three different Transport Ministers from the Scottish Government. The issues remain.”

Lochaber is home to major UK industries that rely on the local road infrastructure to bring in materials and to transport products to market. Businesses, that include BSW Timber, Ferguson Transport & Shipping and MOWI, have been crying out for help to improve transport infrastructure for years.

The state-of-the-art BSW Timber sawmill on the outskirts of Fort William is set up to produce vastly more timber than it currently does. The 0.5 million tonne input could potentially almost double, but growth is hampered by the inability to get the raw materials to site. There are currently 8 – 10 projects planned that may not go ahead because of the inadequate road network.

BSW Timber produces 0.5 million tonnes of processed logs each year. The Mill Manager, Oliver Stephen, reports that the biggest challenge to their business is ‘the A82 and traffic congestion in Fort William’.

The Scottish salmon sector is the largest food export in the UK and around 40% of this is processed and despatched from the Mowi Fort William Plant.

Scott Nolan, Sales & Operations Director of MOWI, said: “During peak summer months the most challenging part of the journey to market for our product is getting through Fort William. Delays leaving the area can lead to missed connections and unnecessary delays.

Alasdair Ferguson, Group MD of Ferguson Transport & Shipping has been dealing with the challenge of poor infrastructure for decades. He cites the condition and the dimensions of the A82 along with the congestion through Fort William as the biggest constraint on their business. He said: “We do not have fit for purpose infrastructure to deal with the volume or the scale of traffic.”

Frazer Coupland added: “Fort William is and continues to be a great place for businesses to operate. Major employers are looking to grow locally including SSE Renewables who have proposed the Coire Glas Pumped Hydro Storage Scheme, the largest engineering project in the Highlands for 80 years, near Fort William.

“However, transport infrastructure affects every business and every person in Fort William and the wider west highland area, and Lochaber urgently needs investment in its road network to help the Scottish economy grow and prosper.”