Stakeholder engagement

Overview

There has been extensive stakeholder engagement throughout the design process for the proposed scheme in order to provide early opportunities for opinions to inform the proposed scheme as it has developed.

Consultation for the proposed scheme has been undertaken in line with Transport Scotland’s guide: ‘A9 Dualling Programme Engaging with Communities’ (Transport Scotland, 2013 and 2016 update), and guidance provided in Revision 1 of Planning Advice Note (PAN) 1/2013: Environmental Impact Assessment (Scottish Government, 2017).

Consultation reports and materials can be found on the Transport Scotland website.

An important central resource for the public, media and all stakeholders to access up to date information is the A9 dualling website (Transport Scotland, 2025b). The website provides up to date information for all sections of the A9 Dualling Project and provides opportunity to use online feedback mechanisms, including an email enquiry and response service.

Stakeholder Forums

A number of stakeholder forums were set up to bring together groups of similar interest and to facilitate two-way flow of information for the A9 Dualling Project (details of forum members are included in Appendix B: Forum Membership). These forums were as follows:

  • Environmental Steering Group and the Environmental Forum, which allowed environmental issues associated with the dualling programme to be fully considered and agreed through the design process.
  • A forum which allowed direct engagement to gather views of walking, wheeling, cycling and horse riding stakeholders on specific matters relating to the development of the design of the each of the A9 dualling projects. This was previously called the Non-Motorised User (NMU) Forum but is now being referred to as the Walker, Wheeler, Cyclist and Horse-rider (WCH) Forum to reflect the change of terminology now applied by the DMRB.
  • An Accessibility Forum was set up to establish a collaborative and inclusive approach in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the A9 dualling proposals, aiming to create environments that can be used by everyone, regardless of age or disability, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

Some meetings were convened jointly with the WCH and Accessibility Forums due to the overlapping interests of the groups.

Consultation Activities

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), published in 2013, involved extensive consultation, the output from which has been reviewed and taken into account in the design of the proposed scheme.

In December 2012, community consultation was undertaken through a series of exhibitions on the A9 Dualling between Perth and Inverness to inform a Preliminary Engineering Services (PES) study. Further public exhibitions were held in June 2013 to provide an update on the A9 PES and SEA Commissions and the progress of the A9 Dualling projects between Perth and Inverness.

Following initial identification of route options to be considered at DMRB Stage 2, in Autumn 2016 Transport Scotland undertook an A9 Co-Creative Process with the local community. The process was open to the general public, with the key contributors forming part of the Birnam to Ballinluig A9 Community Group, which was involved in each stage of the Co-Creative process. This commenced in January 2018 and concluded in July 2018 with the identification of the Community’s Preferred Route Option.

Community engagement events were then held on 26 and 27 March 2019 in the Birnam Arts Centre, to let local communities and road users see the work that had taken place since the co-creative process identified the Community’s Preferred Route Option. As part of that work, the various elements of the community option had been examined in consultation with local residents living close to the A9 and key stakeholders.

From an accessibility and walking, wheeling, cycling and horse-riders (WCH) perspective, the stakeholders invited to the March 2019 events included, in alphabetical order, The British Horse Society, ByCycle – The Perth and Kinross Cycle Campaign, Cycling Scotland, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, John Muir Trust, Living Streets Scotland, Mobility and Access Committee Scotland, People Friendly Design, Perth and Kinross Outdoor Access Forum, Perth and Kinross Council Community Greenspace, Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust, Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, Scottish Disability Equality Forum, Scotways (The Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society) and Sustrans.

Further community drop in events were held on 16 and 17 May 2019 in the Birnam Arts Centre, providing local communities and road users with an update on the design process, showing a number of whole route options which were developed using the options shown in March 2019.

Alongside the stakeholders invited in March 2019, additional accessibility-related invitees to the May 2019 events included, in alphabetical order, the Cyclists' Touring Club (now known as Cycling UK), the Forestry Commission (now Forestry and Land Scotland and Scottish Forestry), the Forestry Commission (Perth and Argyll Conservancy), the Highland Cycle Campaign, Highland Perthshire Cycling, Living Streets Scotland, Paths for All, Ramblers Scotland, Rambling Scotland, Scottish Orienteering Association, Scottish Outdoor Access Network, The Mountaineering Council of Scotland, and Sustrans Perth and Inverness Volunteer Group.

An announcement of the Preferred Route Option was made on 20 December 2023, and public exhibitions were held at Birnam Arts and Conference Centre, Station Road, PH8 0DS between 11am and 8pm on Monday 29 January 2024 and between 10am and 6pm on Tuesday 30 January 2024. An online exhibition, which included information on the preferred route option and how it was chosen, was available from 20 December 2023 to 17 March 2024, and invited the public and stakeholders to leave feedback. The event was hosted by Transport Scotland and Jacobs and attended by around 200 people, with around 2,000 visits to the online exhibition. Following the conclusion on the in-person public exhibition, a feedback box remained in Birnam Arts until the formal closing of the consultation period on Sunday 17 March 2024. Feedback forms were also left next to this box and were continuously replenished. People also had opportunity to provide feedback by email or via forms on-line. The virtual exhibition also remained live until Sunday 17 March 2024.

On 23 April 2024, a combined WCH and Accessibility Forum meeting was organised between Transport Scotland and the Perth and Kinross Outdoor Access Forum, attended by Disability Beyond Borders and representatives of Perth and Kinross Council/ Sustrans, Perth and Kinross Council Community Greenspace, Perth and Kinross Council Roads, Ramblers Scotland, the British Horse Society and ByCycle.

Further in-person community engagement events for the proposed scheme were held in the Birnam Arts and Conference Centre between 11am and 8pm on Wednesday 21 and between 10am and 6pm on Thursday 22 August 2024. These events were hosted by Transport Scotland and Jacobs and were attended by around 200 people. An accompanying virtual exhibition, with the same information as shown at the community engagement events, was available from 21 August to 6 October 2024, and was viewed by around 2,000 people. These events let local communities and road users see the work that had taken place since the preferred route option for the scheme was announced in December 2023. This work included details on access and side road arrangements, facilities for walkers, wheelers, cyclists and horse-riders, drainage design, and access and car park proposals at Dunkeld and Birnam Railway Station.

Engagement centred on children and young people was also conducted on Tuesday 27 August and Tuesday 3 September 2024. Three schools were chosen to take part in this engagement based on their proximity to the scheme and their prior engagement with the Academy9 programme.

On 14 February 2025, a further combined WCH and Accessibility Forum meeting was organised between Transport Scotland, Perth and Kinross Council and the Perth and Kinross Outdoor Access Forum, attended by a councillor and representatives from Perth and Kinross Council, Strathearn Rural & Riders Access Group/the British Horse Society, and the Chairman of the local branch of the Royal Highland Education Trust.

Accessibility

Promotion of the most recent consultation in 2024 was done through multiple avenues to ensure as many people as possible were informed of and able to access the consultation. These included:

  • Emails to businesses and community stakeholders who previously requested to be kept informed of the project’s progress.
  • The A9 Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing Story Map (a webpage that provides an overview of the Preferred Route selection process) includes a latest news page, which continues to be updated, and directed site visitors to the online feedback form, the Virtual Exhibition and provided the details for the in-person events.
  • Transport Scotland issued a press release to national and local media. This was also hosted on Transport Scotland’s website and was shared across Transport Scotland’s social media channels.
  • Transport Scotland’s designated A9 Dualling website hosts updates to the whole programme via the A9 Dualling Engage page.
  • Physical advertising materials were distributed around Dunkeld, Birnam and Perth, including the Community Engagement Event Brochure which contained information presented at the virtual exhibition and in-person events, a leaflet providing a QR code to the virtual exhibition and information on the in person events, and a larger poster sharing the same information as the leaflet.

An inclusive approach was undertaken to consultation activities including:

  • Providing information in plain English and available in a variety of formats.
  • Ensuring the consultation venue (Birnam Arts and Conference Centre) was accessible.
  • Stakeholders were able to provide feedback through three different channels, including using the online feedback form, submitting a physical feedback form, or emailing a copy to a dedicated A9 Dualling inbox.
  • Stakeholders could choose to attend multiple different types of consultation event, both in-person and virtually. In person events were attended by Transport Scotland and Jacobs staff who were available to discuss the design and answer any questions.
  • A dedicated webpage for the consultation events was made available to further increase accessibility. Consultation materials and published documents are also published on the Transport Scotland webpage.