Long-term job creation associated with GARL

S3W-33245 – Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab) (Date Lodged Friday, April 16, 2010): To ask the Scottish Executive what its best estimate is of the long-term job creation potential associated with the Glasgow Airport Rail Link project.

Answered by Minister Stewart Stevenson (Friday, April 23, 2010): The original assessment of the wider economic benefits arising from the introduction of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) project (Roger Tym and Partners “Assessment of Wider Economic Benefits” June 2005, commissioned by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport) reported the potential for:

650 jobs over a 10 year period (or 65 jobs per annum) within Glasgow, and

through development opportunities within Paisley town centre, of an office market, 675-700 jobs over a three to four year period.

These figures were on the basis of employment growth forecasts for the affected local authority areas in the period 2003“11 and with the introduction of GARL passenger services in 2009.

It is reasonable to expect that the completion of the Paisley Corridor Improvements project and the introduction of resultant passenger services on the Ayrshire and Inverclyde routes will have a beneficial impact on the local economy and therefore opportunities for employment.