MORE than 6000 manufacturing jobs in the West of Scotland could be lost if the M74's 4.8-mile ''missing link'' across southern Glasgow is not completed, a confidential Government-funded report has concluded.

The study, which pre-empts the Scottish Office's long-

awaited roads review to be published this summer, reveals that one in 10 firms surveyed would move away or close down if the #170m link does not go ahead.

Campaigners pushing for the route - the final stretch of motorway in Glasgow's controversial ''motorway box'' - yesterday stepped up pressure on the Government to break its year-old moratorium on new roads and approve its construction.

The M74 Complete to Compete Group, which has the backing of several councils and chambers of commerce as well as trades unions, the AA and the RAC, hired a helicopter to highlight rush-hour traffic bottlenecks.

However, the anti-road lobby dismissed the report's findings as a meaningless and one-sided exercise, insisting that the scheme would only create more traffic and not promote economic growth.

The study, carried out for Scottish Enterprise, claims scrapping the 4.8-mile link will cost about 5200 job losses, while up to 1640 extra posts will be created if the project is approved.

Ultimately, its authors estimate: ''The difference between the M74 scheme proceeding and not could be between 6050 and 6870 jobs''.

Mr Vernon Murphy, chairman of Complete to Compete, said the West of Scotland was the industrial hub of the country, accounting for 40% of all Scottish exports to Europe, but could founder if road links remained congested.

''If you want to transport goods from Scotland down to England or Prestwick, or the other way around, you have to go through Glasgow city centre. There is no alternative.''

Mr Murphy added: ''I cannot see any sense in the current stopping point of the M74. This is not about building new roads. The M74 is there already. More than 100 miles of it has already been built from the English Border and it stops in a field to the north of Cambuslang, four miles short of its logical conclusion. It is a glaring gap in Scotland's strategic infrastructure, which must be filled if the M74 is to do its job properly and serve the whole of Scotland.''

If completed, the motorway's northern extension would stretch from its current finishing point at a roundabout near Cambuslang across brownfield and industrial land to the M8 west of the Kingston Bridge.

The link would take about four years to build and see the destruction of 41 homes and 99 business premises, mainly storage warehouses.

Mr Murphy said the route would improve air quality around the city and benefit the environment by easing congestion.

He added: ''We are looking for an early meeting with roads minister Henry McLeish to discuss the project. We are quite optimistic, because the Scottish Office are aware of the study and we have not had the door slammed in our faces.''

Mr David Spaven, chairman of TRANSform Scotland, later hit out at the M74 plan first mooted 33 years ago, branding it a 1960s solution to a 21st-century problem. He disputed the figures on job losses, claiming many businesses having to relocate to make way for the new link could in turn be forced out of business.

''This study is meaningless, because it fails to compare the M74 link with other valid options like alternative transport strategies, direct business assistance and improvements to local roads.

''Complete to Compete has conspicuously failed to evaluate the economic benefits of a sustainable transport strategy for the M74 corridor based on new rail links and the creation of a priority lane for lorries over the Kingston Bridge.''

Mr Spaven vowed to continue fighting the scheme, adding: ''The issue is what is appropriate for the transport needs of the next 20 years, and the M74 northern extension is not a sensible way forward for Glasgow.''

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