City deal 'a swindle' says Caithness community councillor
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A CAITHNESS community councillor has slammed the £315 million Inverness City and Region deal as "a swindle".
Bill Mowat, vice-chairman of Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council, claims the funding is being spent mostly in the Highland capital with little coming to the far north.
He said that if the money was split proportionally, Caithness – with just over 10 per cent of the Highland population – should get almost £30 million.
He believes the figure spent in Caithness falls well short of that.
"Even if you subtract the sum used for pan-Highland projects – mainly telecoms – about £25 million would still come to the area," he said.
Mr Mowat points out that the Moray Council area, with a population of 96,000, is receiving £65 million from a similar scheme. On that basis, Caithness with 27 per cent of the Moray population would get £16 million.
"Whatever way the penny spins, there ought to have been something between £15 million and £25 million extra coming to Caithness, even allowing for Highland-wide telecoms and broadband matters, although there seems to be no real improvement in poor rural mobile phone reception.
"But given a bit of weighting to try and combat the appalling population forecasts – if nothing much is done to address the situation – it would not be unreasonable to suggest that Caithness could have had up to £40 million and that would have made a difference."
Mr Mowat, whose views have been endorsed by his Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council colleagues, said the deal was supposed to be "transformational for the north of Scotland" but claims that has not happened.
He referred to the deal as "a swindle" and said: "I have had over 40 years' experience of local affairs from being a Caithness newspaper editor to a four-term elected Highland councillor for north-east Caithness to involvement in local voluntary bodies, including Gills Harbour and the community council.
"But the apparent chicanery surrounding this deal is worse than anything I have previously encountered. A vast amount is being spent on schemes where council officials appear to have made all the running, with much of the money being committed on urban road traffic and transport matters.
"This is particularly true of a new A9 roundabout in Inverness that is in line for soaking up many millions to solve a traffic problem."
Mr Mowat also pointed out that the Caithness population is predicted to fall from 25,807 to 20,367 by 2041 while in Inverness it is expected to increase from 81,000 to around 90,000.
He said: "It is true that the deal has some years to go, but the 'big ticket' items have already been spoken for or committed."
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “The Inverness and Highland City-Region deal consists of £188m of additional investment into the region from the Scottish and UK governments to be matched by £127m from local partners.
"Projects are being delivered outwith the city include the town wi-fi project to more than 14 towns across the Highlands including Wick and Thurso, affordable housing and Newton rooms in Thurso and Fort William.
"Investment in Inverness projects is designed to stimulate growth across the whole of the Highlands. Over the 10-year lifetime of the deal projects should create 1125 fill-time equivalent jobs and 2200 construction jobs, levering in £800m of private sector funding.”
