Supreme Court ruling leaves Aberdeen bypass appeal ‘in the balance’

Bypass: The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route has been in planning for the last 40 years.

Opponents against the £400m Aberdeen bypass have been dealt a major setback.

Supreme Court judges agreed objector William Walton should pay no more than £5000 of the Scottish Government’s legal bill should he lose the appeal.

However it has also been reported that they have limited the amount that the government will have to pay, which means Mr Walton, a university lecturer, will only be able to hire one advocate instead of two.

Mr Walton and his campaign group RoadSense have already had two legal challenges against the 28-mile bypass rejected.

The Supreme Court ruling means that Mr Walton’s QC, Stuart Gale, would have to take on the two government advocates on his own. It has been reported that Mr Gale is unhappy with that situation.

Mr Walton said: “I don’t think it is a fatal blow but it is a fundamental setback as to go to the Supreme Court with one barrister against two is very unacceptable and a hugely disadvantageous situation but I don’t think it is the end of the appeal process by any means.

“The decision is very disappointing and a bit of a blow but I’m not going to walk away from it.”

The Supreme Court appeal is due to be heard in July.

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