£1m road repair cash 'not enough'
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CAITHNESS councillor Struan Mackie has welcomed the near £1 million boost for Highland Council to help repair the north’s winter-ravaged roads – but warned that more is needed to finish the job off.
The local authority has received £940,000 from the Scottish Government’s Bellwin Scheme to mend potholes and cracked road surfaces caused by the winter snap earlier this year.
However, potholes and other examples of roads in a state of disrepair are nothing new to Caithness with problems for drivers being a long-term, ongoing issue.
Earlier this year the John O’Groat Journal reported how a hearse in Keiss nearly got stuck in a pothole when travelling from a church to a cemetery after a funeral service and also of how long centre-line stretches on the A99 between Latheron and Wick and the A9 Dunbeath to Thurso had opened up with more dangerous cracks, gouges and holes.
While the money from the Scottish Government has been warmly received, Mr Mackie, who represents Thurso and Northwest Caithness on Highland Council, says that it will not serve as panacea to rid Caithness of the pothole pests.
He said: “It’s been long overdue and it is to be welcomed. However,
£1 million will only cover a small percentage of what’s needed to repair the roads.
“While it is welcome, this is only a Band-Aid solution. For a comprehensive repair of the roads in the Highlands, we would need an extra £70 million. This £1 million that’s been given to the council is just a drop in the ocean.
“It is good though that the Scottish Government is aware of the issues we have in Caithness with the roads – especially as residents do not have many options open to them with regard to travelling and have the roads as their main source of travelling. Hopefully this will lead to more funds being released for road repairs up here in the future.”
Councillor Raymond Bremner, Wick and East Caithness, said ways needed to be explored as to how Highland Council could get its budget allocation increased in order to improve the roads.
He said: “I welcome the news that the Scottish Government has recognised the situation in the Highland Council area with the award of nearly £1m towards road repairs.
“The fact is that Highland Council has already had to spend £2.5 miliion over the revenue budget allocation for 2017/18 as I understand it, and I suspect that the extra £1 million will go to offset the extra money spent on the roads over the winter period.
“There is a much bigger picture here which some of us have been highlighting. We need more money to be channelled to the road network and Highland Council needs to look at ways of doing this.
“I have already asked the council’s redesign board to look at the issue of potholes and poor road surfaces in its forthcoming agenda. Our communities are looking for improvements in the quality of road surface repair methods and how long repairs will last.
“The redesign board could come up with ways where we can get a better benefit for the money that is being spent but we need to look at how we can increase the budget allocation, both revenue and capital spend, for our road network.”
Councillor Matthew Reiss, Thurso and Northwest Caithness, said: “A very large sum of money is required to bring our roads up to a better standard. The extra money is welcome but will not make a big difference, although every little helps.
“The Highlands must have the most extreme climate of anywhere in Scotland and Caithness has seen a large increase in the number of big lorries on its roads but I am never convinced these things are fully factored in.”
The council leader, Councillor Margaret Davidson, had previously said she was hoping for more than £1 million but Councillor Allan Henderson, chairman of the environment, development and infrastructure committee, pointed out that it could have been much less.
He said: “Like everybody we were hoping for the top end figure, but expecting less due to a complicated formula. This figure is at the top end and therefore very good news for the council.
“The bottom figure could have been as little as £600,000, so we have to praise our officers for a good piece of work convincing our central belt colleagues that we deserved the top end.”
