from Sunday Herald, 21 October 2007
Protesters against a new road bridge across the Firth of Forth Forth claim they have been "gagged" by the Scottish Parliament.
They say they are being preventing from speaking in support of their petition at a meeting of the Parliament's Public Petitions Committee on Tuesday. The petition calls on ministers to reverse their decision to back another Forth road crossing.
Bruce Whitehead, who organised the petition from residents of South Queensferry, on the Forth, described it as "an assault on free speech". It was "a great shame" that local residents had no right to be heard at Holyrood, he said.
"This was the parliament that was going to allow the public a voice, and one which would be accountable for its actions," Whitehead added. "After the woefully limited consultation exercise on a new Forth crossing, we need more access to the democratic process so that people's concerns are properly heard."
Whitehead has submitted a petition with more than 500 signatures urging the Scottish Government to delay a decision on another crossing until further engineering studies of the existing road bridge have been completed. Preliminary findings now suggest that it will be possible to repair the current bridge without closure, he argued.
Councillor Phil Wheeler, the City of Edinburgh's LibDem transport convenor, was "very surprised" that the petitioners weren't being allowed to speak. "Whatever the merits of their case, natural justice should allow them a few minutes," he said.
The Green MSP Robin Harper, a member of the Public Petitions Committee, thought it was "regrettable" that oral evidence wasn't possible. "However, the argument in the petition is well set out and has considerable force," he said.
"I shall be strongly recommending to the committee that the petition is referred straight to the transport committee for consideration. It is rare for petitions to be referred direct to committees at first sight, but given the context and the urgency of this petition I believe this is the right course".
The convenor of the Petitions Committee, Labour MSP Frank McAveety, pointed out that there was a large backlog of petitions. There simply wasn't enough time to allow every petitioner to address MSPs, he said. "But I can assure them that this petition will be properly and carefully considered by the committee."
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