A leading anti-roads campaigner was last night handed a key role in the future of Scotland's transport network.
Patrick Harvie, the Green MSP, will be the convener of the parliament's new transport, infrastructure and climate change committee, which will consider the Scottish Executive's plans for the country's road network.
Among the current road plans which Mr Harvie's party is opposed to include the M74 extension, the Aberdeen city bypass and the scrapping of the Tay and Forth bridge tolls.
The new committee was one of 15 - a reduction of one from the last parliament - announced yesterday by the parliamentary authorities which will scrutinise the work of the executive over the next four years.
The final total may actually be 14 because the procedures committee and standards and public appointments committee, which have the same membership, may yet merge.
The Greens were assured the convenership of the transport, infrastructure and climate change committee as part of the co-operation agreement they struck with the SNP after the election.
Mr Harvie said it was vital that Scotland's transport network did not contribute to climate change and called on his fellow committee members to put the interests of the environment ahead of "short-term political objectives".
He said: "Transport and infrastructure decisions will determine whether Scotland succeeds in tackling climate change.
"MSPs from all parties understand the vital nature of this challenge, and I hope MSPs will form a hard- working and responsible committee, determined to hold the Executive to account and to inform decisions so that Scotland gets the world-class sustainable transport system the country needs.
"Members of the new session's committees must strive to work constructively across party lines, putting the interests of the country, and in this case the planet, before short-term political objectives.
"The decisions we take will have far-reaching impacts long beyond the term of this parliament, and I welcome the opportunity personally to play a crucial role in this process if the nomination is approved by parliament."
The parliamentary bureau, which has representatives from each of the four main parties, finalised the committee structure yesterday afternoon.
First Minister Alex Salmond had previously expressed his desire to see a reduction in committee numbers, arguing that his decision to cut the number of executive departments should also lead to a cut in committees.
But Jack McConnell, Mr Salmond's predecessor, had argued that the previous set-up had been successful and should not be tampered with.
Among the changes to the structure include the merging of the previous Justice 1 and Justice 2 committees.
Six new committees have also been formed to reflect the new executive departments.
As well as the new Transport Committee, these are Economy, Energy and Tourism, Health and Sport, Local Government and Communities, Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture, and Rural Affairs and Environment. The SNP and Labour have the same number of convenerships with five, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats have two apiece and the Greens have one.
The memberships of the committees are expected to be finalised tomorrow, but their make-up will reflect the proportion of MSPs each party has in the parliament.
This means that no party will have an overall majority, making it more difficult for the SNP to push through its legislative programme and giving more power to the committee conveners.
Bruce Crawford, the Minister for Parliamentary Business and the SNP's member of the bureau, said he was satisfied with the outcome of their discussions.
He said: "The Scottish Parliament's committee structure plays an extremely vital role in the functioning of our parliament and that was reflected in the positive and constructive discussions which have taken place between the parties.
"We are pleased with the arrangements and are delighted that the proposals have been taken up by all sides."
Holyrood committees AUDIT
Convener: Labour Deputy: Conservative Members: 8
ECONOMY, ENERGY and TOURISM
Convener: Liberal Democrat Deputy: SNP Members: 8
EDUCATION, LIFELONG LEARNING AND CULTURE
Convener: Labour Deputy: SNP Members: 8
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Convener: Conservative Deputy: Labour Members: 8
EUROPEAN and EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Convener: Labour Deputy: SNP Members: 8 FINANCE Convener: SNP Deputy: Labour Members: 8
HEALTH and SPORT
Convener: SNP Deputy: Liberal Democrat Members: 8
JUSTICE
Convener: Conservative Deputy: Labour Members: 8 LOCAL GOVERNMENT and COMMUNITIES Convener: Labour Deputy: SNP Members: 8
PUBLIC PETITIONS
Convener: Labour Deputy: Liberal Democrat Members: 9
PROCEDURES
Convener: SNP Deputy: Labour Members: 7 RURAL AFFAIRS and ENVIRONMENT Convener: SNP Deputy: Conservative Members: 8
STANDARDS and PUBLIC APPOINTMENTS
Convener: SNP Deputy: Labour Members: 7
SUBORDINATE LEGISLATION
Convener: Liberal Democrat Deputy: SNP Members: 7
TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE and CLIMATE CHANGE
Convener: Green Deputy: Labour Members: 8
CONVENERSHIPS
SNP: 5.
Labour: 5.
Liberal Democrat: 2.
Conservative: 2 Green: 1
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article