Caithness councillors have been sharply divided over bid to focus efforts on upgrading the A9 north of Inverness after Highland Council agreed to 'press' for trunk road improvements across the Highlands
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Caithness councillors have been sharply divided after a bid to focus local and national efforts on upgrading the A9 north of Inverness was expanded to include all trunk road works in the Highlands.
The local authority agreed to a proposal where the leader – Caithness councillor Raymond Bremner – should “press” for answers on the A9 dualling between Perth and Inverness as well as “the trunk road network upgrade and maintenance programme”.
One opposition member said that the original motion was “more than watered down” and another argued that: “It doesn’t really help much” while administration members argued that lobbying for improvements to the trunk road network as a whole would deliver better results.
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Caithness and Sutherland members Richard Gale, Ron Gunn and Matthew Reiss originally wanted the leader to press Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government for an urgent “upgrade of the road between Brora and Helmsdale”.
Their motion argued that with the road frequently closed due to accidents, the more than 6000 Caithness residents with appointments at Raigmore each year cannot afford such delays. Yet Transport Scotland has allocated “zero funding” for improvements.
Councillor Karl Rosie then proposed that the leader should “press” for answers on “the trunk road network upgrade and maintenance programme and the upgrade of the Far North Railway Line as a matter of priority” as well as the A9 dualling.
Councillor Jan McEwan said: “If there is an accident you miss hospital appointments, flights and onward connections and business meetings – it has a huge impact and it is contributing to the depopulation of the north of Scotland.
“It doesn’t really help much that it has been opened up for the whole of the Highlands – we want to see a commitment to the north.”
Councillor Gunn said: “It has been more than watered down because there is no mention anywhere of the northern bit of the road and the main reason that the motion went is the safety of the road and the accidents that close it. And it was really to get the Scottish Government to consider funding for the northern section, even from Tain north, but that had never been considered or never even looked at.”
Cllr Rosie said: “The point I want to make is that to achieve what he set out in his motion – improvements to the A9 between Brora and Wick and Thurso – we need to launch an effective lobbying campaign.
“My view is that is best done by incorporating other roads, not to the diminishment of the north section of the A9, but to highlight just how bad some roads are – like the A836 and the A894, not to mention the A82.”
Cllr Bremner said, citing examples of accidents halting traffic and causing enormous diversions, that: “It is the same for folk all over the Highlands – our trunk road network is in urgent need of an upgrade.
“The issues prevailing on the people of Caithness are also prevailing on the people of other areas.”
