The first ICE Scotland AGM was held on Tuesday 16 November 2010 in Edinburgh in the Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre, Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh Napier University.
A short business meeting was followed by a debate on “The Sustainability of Scotland’s Critical Infrastructure”. Professor Paul Jowitt, President of the ICE, ably chaired the panel of distinguished speakers from a range of backgrounds including industry, academia and government as they debated the proposal “The house believes that Scotland will deliver a sustainable national infrastructure by 2035”.
The speakers were:
■ Jim Barton, Transport Scotland - For the motion
■ Ronnie Hunter, Scott Wilson - For the motion
■ Professor Malcolm Horner, University of Dundee - Against the motion
■ James Curran, SEPA - Against the motion
A pre-debate show of hands indicated that 12 were in favour of the motion compared to 20 against. After the debate the count had swung to 5 in favour and 23 against. The question and discussion session demonstrated a wide range of opinions, with a strong feeling among the audience that as Civil Engineers we need to do more to educate the public about the need for sustainable infrastructure.