Damaged road signs at Dunnet Bay 'symptomatic of the way Caithness has been neglected'
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A pair of rusting, semi-collapsed road signs on the North Coast 500 in Caithness have been described as symptomatic of the way the county has been "neglected and abandoned".
The adjacent brown tourist signs are on the A836, directly across from the Dunnet Bay caravan site and beach car park, and have suffered badly from exposure to the elements over the years.
One, indicating the Seadrift Centre, has been twisted out of shape and is pointing downwards towards the road.
The other, larger sign – drawing visitors' attention to Dunnet Bay with its car park, beach access and toilets – has toppled over completely and is pointing skywards.
Iain Gregory, of the campaign group Caithness Roads Recovery, claims the unsightly spectacle strengthens the argument that the county should have its own local authority.
"Caithness has been neglected, abandoned, ignored and marginalised for far too long," Mr Gregory said.
"These signs summarise everything that is wrong with the present system, where control has been taken from the local people, and where decisions affecting the county are made in a faraway city.
"It is time for Caithness to once again become independent and to accept that regionalisation and centralisation have failed us utterly."
Mr Gregory added: “I've had very supportive comments from people in the Dunnet area. One of them said recently that they used to have a lovely big sign saying 'Welcome to Dunnet', with all kinds of information – it has been gone for two years and they haven't put it back.
“It's not just Dunnet, it's other communities. We're making an effort to make our communities attractive for the people who live there, and for visitors, and what we're seeing is neglect. It's symptomatic of everything that's wrong.”
Councillor Matthew Reiss, who represents Thurso and Northwest Caithness on Highland Council, acknowledged that some brown signs in the county "look absolutely appalling".
He said: “The complex procedure for replacing brown signs is in my opinion another example of unnecessary bureaucracy and centralisation.
“The council is only responsible for trying to maintain signs once they've been put up and obviously signs have a finite life, especially in salty environments.
“I agree that not just the signs at Dunnet but ones at Reay and on the outskirts of Thurso look absolutely appalling. I've discussed it with officers several times in recent years.
“Unfortunately this is just another example of the massive workload that the staff are trying to contend with.”
