Andrew Turner has today welcomed the news that the Government is set to proceed with a massive £364m investment in Island roads under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Due to the very difficult state of the nation’s finances, a large number of public spending commitments have been axed. All spending decisions made this year by the outgoing Labour Government were scrutinised carefully by the Treasury and details of the projects to be axed were announced this afternoon in the House of Commons by Danny Alexander MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Mr Turner agreed that there are some valid concerns about the way in which PFIs operate, but said that the need for investment in the Island’s roads was quite desperate and there was no other way to access the capital to bring about the improvements needed.

In May Mr Turner wrote to George Osborne the Chancellor of the Exchequer, outlining the case for investment in the Island’s roads and subsequently ensured the case was passed on to Danny Alexander.

Mr Turner said
“This is the first sign that the new Government is finally listening carefully to the needs of the Isle of Wight. We all know that money is tight and many public projects are being axed. However the Treasury listened to what we had to say and finally agreed that our roads were a high priority as they are in a desperately bad state, much worse than most other places and there was no other way to find the capital needed to repair them. I also made it clear to the Treasury that the money already spent on preparing for this project would be wasted if it did not now proceed. I now look forward to seeing the long overdue improvements to our roads actually happening.”

END : Contact : Andrew Turner’s office 01983 530808