FOI Request - Dedicated Truck Stop

Request 101003479358

Problem-
The increase in traffic on moray roads and conversely the increase in heavy goods vehicles passing through or delivering in the moray area and the dualling of the A96

1.  What would it take for Government funding/spending to be made available for the creation of a viable solution to the overnight parking complete with welfare facilities for our truck drivers.

I am aware that there is currently lorry parking in Elgin Town centre but passing by I have seen that this may not be future proof.

Response 15-02-2024

1. The A96 is a trunk road which the Council are not the roads authority for. Transport Scotland are doing a review of the A96 corridor and we await the outcome of the review – we would encourage anyone interested to take part in the public consultations on this. The dualling scheme developed did not identify an area for a ‘truck stop’ but it did include laybys for parking (no facilities) - https://www.transport.gov.scot/projects/a96-dualling-inverness-to-aberdeen/

The Council has no statutory duty to provide such facilities but we have made parking areas available in Elgin and Keith (both just off the A96) so HGV's don’t have to park on the public roads in those settlements.

Transport Scotland/HiTRANS/NESTRANS have the wider overview for long distance traffic.