Disparity on roads spending highlighted by Caithness councillor
A CAITHNESS councillor has hit out at the disparity between spending on roads in the far north and elsewhere in Scotland.
Matthew Reiss, a Thurso and Northwest Caithness Highland councillor, said the average spend per kilometre of road in Scotland is just under £7000 but it is around a third of that in the far north.
Speaking at the most recent meeting of the Thurso Community Council, Mr Reiss, said: "There is something far wrong with the system. It is broken."
He claimed different Highland Council administrations had cut roads budgets over many years to protect spending on education although he acknowledged that more money started to go into roads in recent times.
Mr Reiss also pointed out that Caithness has more reported faults on its roads than "anywhere else in the Highlands" and called for pressure to be put on the Highland Council administration to ask the Scottish Government for emergency funding.
He said local authority employees do a great job but stressed that more staff and equipment are needed over a number of years to try and address the pot holes problem.
Community council chairwoman, Thelma Mackenzie, wondered if the money paid by timber firms is coming back to Caithness. Mr Reiss said: "The fund is better than nothing but it is peanuts."
Community councillor, Gill Arrowsmith, asked if the popular North Coast 500 route could help with the upkeep of the roads and also suggested that wind farm companies could do more.
Ron Gunn, a Thurso and Northwest Caithness Highland councillor and a former community council chairman, pointed out that the Halsary wind farm will have a Caithness-wide benefit fund.
Community councillor, Billy Sinclair, claimed some of the council equipment for dealing with pot holes is "not fit for purpose" and wondered if "we are getting the old stuff up here from Inverness."
Mr Reiss said he would be "slightly surprised" if that was the case. "We just don't have the money to get the equipment," he replied.
Mr Reiss said additional funding is needed to deal with the roads issue and argued the Highland Council administration should be urged to go to the Scottish Government and ask for the money.