Councillor challenges transport minister over improvements to A9
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A CAITHNESS councillor challenged Scotland's transport secretary Michael Matheson "politely but firmly" on the need to improve parts of the A9.
Councillor Matthew Reiss made his plea when the minister was in Caithness on a brief visit last week. The Thurso and Northwest Caithness Highland councillor said some of the road is in a good condition but he highlighted the sections from Latheron to Berriedale and from Portgower to Brora as being in need of attention.
"I challenged him politely but firmly on that as it is a lifeline route," Councillor Reiss said at a meeting of Castletown and District Community Council.
"Michael Matheson used to live in Tain before he moved to Edinburgh but perhaps he is not aware of how things have changed and how fast they are changing."
Councillor Reiss also raised the reduction in flights to and from Wick John O'Groats Airport and told the minister it is essential the far north has good transport links.
During his trip to the far north, Mr Matheson saw the £9.6 million upgrade of the Berriedale Braes. He also saw some of the archaeological finds dug up during the road scheme preparation works.
Work on the upgrade is due to be finished by the spring of next year.
Councillor Reiss also told the community councillors the local authority is "going to get less money" in the next financial year, although it is not yet known what the figure will be.
"These cuts have been going on for seven or eight years now and each year it becomes more and more difficult and more and more challenging. We also had a council tax freeze for nine years," he said.
The community council expressed concern about the amount of weeds in Castletown and said the local authority is not tackling the problem.
Councillor Reiss said a ban had been imposed on the weedkiller used and no suitable alternative had been found, although that argument did not find favour with chairman Billy Dunbar, who claimed local councillors should be challenging that decision.
Councillor Reiss said it would be ideal if every village had a full-time rather than part-time village officer. "They could do so much and we would not be talking about a huge amount of money to make a massive difference," he said.
The councillor argued that a tourist tax would help raise money to address some of these issues.
