Moray must not play second fiddle to Inverness and Aberdeen when it comes to dualling the A96 road.

That was the message from Councillor Douglas Ross as he challenged Moray Council to ensure the region is not the last to benefit from the multimillion-pound contract.

Transport Scotland has committed to delivering a dualled A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen by 2030.

The first £30million phase of the £475million programme, at Nairn, has already been awarded.

Last night Mr Ross said it was vital that Moray is not left behind.

“Moray is the only mainland county in the United Kingdom that has no dual carriageway, so we have to make sure that changes and changes quickly,” he said.

“The attitude from the council so far has been to sit on its hands and wait to hear what Transport Scotland comes back with. If we continue in that vein Moray will be left behind and will end up as the last section to be upgraded. That is not acceptable.

“We have to put forward a very strong and robust case to ensure Moray is not the last leg that gets completed, it should be one of the first.”

Stephen Cooper, head of direct services at Moray Council, said: “We had a meeting with Transport Scotland about two or three weeks ago. We are currently looking at various options.

“That will not be finalised for some time yet, so it’s premature to actually identify what these options are, but there will be ongoing discussions with Transport Scotland, and there is likely to be a roadshow in May or June where they will be able to give out more information on what the programme looks like for the next two to three years in terms of developing these options.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman said last night: “This is a significant undertaking which requires careful, in-depth planning and design to ensure that we deliver the right scheme to help tackle congestion and provide better journey time reliability and road safety for all users.”

He added that preliminary work was taking place between east of Nairn and Aberdeen, and the public will be able to see the results at various roadshows later this spring.

Following completion of the preliminary work, possible options for bypasses around towns along the route will be assessed.