Councillors unhappy with 'sticking plaster' repairs to potholed car park
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Councillors have condemned the small-scale temporary repairs carried out at Wick's riverside car park as a "sticking plaster" operation.
A contractor delivered tons of steaming hot patch material from a quarry in Bower on Monday and filled in the heavily potholed car park.
Councillor Nicola Sinclair, Wick and East Caithness, said yesterday: "I am frustrated and disappointed to see these small-scale temporary repairs go ahead despite our specific instruction only last week to cancel them and return to the Caithness Committee with a plan for a total resurfacing."
She said she would keep pressing for a "lasting, high-quality repair" for the car park.
"Sadly so far it feels like we are shouting into the wind. It's a sad indictment of the council's localism agenda and I don't intend to let it go."
He words were echoed by fellow Wick and East Caithness member Raymond Bremner, who did not conceal his disappointment at the "sticking plaster" style of approach taken by Highland Council.
"It's not the repair that I want," he said. "It will be a very temporary fix but the councillors on this side of the county want a proper repair of the car park for a whole load of reasons.
"There will be a special meeting of the Caithness Committee very soon and we are expecting officers to come back to us with a proper update."
Councillor Bremner brought up the "appalling state" of the car park at a meeting in Wick Town Hall several weeks ago and highlighted how repairs were needed to help the regeneration of the town centre and the traffic management plans.
Yesterday he said the car park needed total resurfacing that could cost up to £90,000 rather than the "paltry" few thousand spent on Monday's job.
"We have known about and ignored the state of these car parks for years," he said. "Even though a small temporary remedy would normally be welcome, we have called for these car parks to be repaired properly."
Councillor Bremner hopes that a more serious and longer-lasting repair could still be initiated by the council.
Council senior engineer Joanne Sutherland had previously said that she believed £50,000 had been allocated to carry out repair work at the car park.
A spokesperson for Highland Council said: “Highland Council can confirm that it has arranged for temporary repairs to be done. This is unconnected to the new parking enforcement arrangements that are being rolled out across Highland communities.”
