Councillors unhappy Wick car park not included in capital plan
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WICK councillors hit out this week after discovering the resurfacing of the riverside car park – said to be crucial to plans to regenerate the town centre – has not been included in the roads capital programme for 2019/20.
They expressed their concern at the Caithness Committee on Wednesday and decided not to approve the draft budget until an emergency meeting is held within the next three weeks.
The councillors were also unhappy with the lack of communication about the project despite bringing it up on numerous occasions with officials.
Afterwards, Councillor Nicola Sinclair, speaking on behalf of her Wick and East Caithness colleagues, said: "It has been decided to defer approving the draft roads capital programme to an emergency meeting of the committee in two to three weeks' time.
"This reflects concerns raised by Wick members that there is still no provision made for the resurfacing of the car park at the riverside. While we understand the car park falls under the education department due to historic council structures, we feel strongly that the council as a collective corporate body needs to take responsibility and commission a high standard of repair and relining of this prominent town centre site.
The community is not interested in who picks up the bill within the council – they understandably just want to see improvement to the appalling condition of this site.
"We have asked officers to return with a proposal for the financing of such a repair and for the relevant department head to attend and summarise this work.
"Following this meeting in early June we hope to approve the roads capital programme and the resurfacing of the car park. We feel this work is crucial to public confidence in the council and our regeneration plans.
"The community is not interested in who picks up the bill within the council – they understandably just want to see improvement to the appalling condition of this site. As members we fully share their frustration and are committed to making that happen."
At the meeting in Wick Town Hall, Councillor Raymond Bremner said the riverside car park has been deteriorating for years and "needs to get fixed."
He said the repairs to the potholed car park are needed to help the regeneration of Wick town centre and traffic management plans.
Councillor Sinclair was also dismayed by the lack of progress. "There are areas which reflect so badly on this town. The public don't care if the money comes from the educational budget or the roads budget. They just want to see the work being done," she said.
The civic leader and fellow Wick councillor, Willie Mackay, described the news as disappointing and called for action to be taken to sort the problem.
Council senior engineer Joanne Sutherland stressed the capital budget is allocated for roads but understood £50,000 had been allocated from the education department to carry out repair work at the car park.
Councillor Bremner was unhappy this information had not been relayed to the members. "Nobody is telling us what's going on. We need to get this sorted out once and for all," he said.
The capital roads budget of £560,000 is to be allocated to work on surface dressing and major patching works which will be undertaken by council staff.
