Council needs to ‘get the finger out’ and give road workers more overtime, says Cllr McEwan
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A Wick and East Caithness councillor criticises the local authority for the “diabolical” state of Caithness roads and thinks overtime for workers may be a solution.
A few miles outside Wick at Staxigoe, Cllr Jan McEwan pointed out how a road junction lacked painted lines which has been leading to traffic “speeding around the corner” to the nearby tourist destination of Noss Head and Sinclair-Girnigoe Castle.
“It’s been without lines for some time and, with the tourist season approaching, it’s coming to a head,” she said on Wednesday afternoon.
“I’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes and five or six campervans have passed and not one has given way. There’s no Give Way sign and there are no white lines.
“I watched one come straight through and into the village. I know of one case where a vehicle turned the corner to Wick and another motorist had to brake quite hard. I believe this is happening on numerous occasions now.
“One of the constituents from Staxigoe said it’s becoming a very dangerous junction now so Highland Council roads department really needs to get out and get the lines up so it indicates where to give way.
The route after Staxigoe towards Noss has the national speed limit in place but restrictions are enforced at the junction. Cllr McEwan says that locals have observed vehicles fail to observe the speed limit for the village and come “barreling around the corner”.
“It’s not just Staxigoe and there are other areas with junctions that are the same. It’s fine for locals who know the roads but with the tourist season coming in it’s an accident waiting to happen and very, very dangerous.”
Cllr McEwan said that the close proximity of a children’s playpark to the junction is an added danger. In the space of 20 minutes, close to 10 campervans and other vehicles were witnessed turning around the corner and heading towards Noss Head. Some did indicate at the corner while others failed to show they were about to turn left.
“Just what will this be like in the height of the tourist season in the summer? The council needs to get the finger out.”
The Highland councillor also wanted to take the opportunity to criticise many other issues across Caithness with the upkeep of roads.
“The state of Caithness roads is absolutely diabolical, in particular both the towns of Wick and Thurso,” she adds.
“Driving through the main thoroughfare of these towns is both a nightmare and embarrassing – what tourists and visitors must think.
“The residential areas aren’t much better. I have a friend who drives all over the Highlands and he has never come across such dilapidated roads.
“Sutherland roads are an awful lot better than Caithness – this might be because their road workers were given more overtime to maintain them.
“Through an FOI I have obtained, I found out that last year Sutherland’s roads overtime budget was £204,891 and Caithness’ was £126,751. Maybe if Caithness road workers were offered more overtime it would save the council from contracting third parties to carry out resurfacing work.”
Highland Council said that its area roads team will be investigating the matter at Staxigoe and will forward an update.
