'From day one there has been anger at the catastrophic neglect of Caithness'
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Iain Gregory has vowed to keep up his relentless campaigning over the crumbling roads of Caithness "until the county gets the investment it is entitled to".
Three years on from the launch of Caithness Roads Recovery (CRR), he says the message has always been that potholes are a visible symptom of a deeper malaise – namely an "utter disregard for anywhere outside the centres of power".
Mr Gregory says CRR has grown to become one of Scotland's most powerful campaign groups, providing a voice for what he calls the "catastrophic neglect" of the county. Some rural routes, he maintains, have been reduced to the status of "medieval cart track".
The campaign has kept up a high profile in the media, striking a chord with thousands of despairing road users – from experienced drivers to learners, and from wheelchair users to cyclists.
Mr Gregory served as a police officer for more than 30 years, retiring as area commander for Caithness and Sutherland. He founded CRR in February 2021 along with Helen Campbell, who stood down in October that year.
Their aim was to highlight the condition of roads in Caithness and north-west Sutherland and exert pressure for substantial investment.
At the end of December 2023 it emerged that the cost of repairing the backlog of road defects in the Highlands had soared by nearly £40 million, with the Scottish Government being urged to help cover the expense.
Mr Gregory said at the time he was not surprised by the figure, adding: "I can guarantee that, unless action is taken very swiftly indeed, it will continue to increase rapidly and substantially."
We put a few questions to Mr Gregory about the first three years of CRR.
How would you sum up the impact Caithness Roads Recovery has had over these three years in terms of raising awareness, speaking up for those affected by substandard roads, gathering support from the public, putting pressure on the local authority and Scottish Government and arguing the case for Caithness to have a fully funded programme of repairs?
"The impact has been incredible. From day one, we realised that there was a very high level of public interest, and indeed anger, at the catastrophic neglect of the county. We also came to understand fairly quickly that the advent of CRR, and our high-profile approach to awareness-raising, was not perhaps universally welcomed.
"Remarkably, in very short order, the Highland Council introduced an initiative called, by an extraordinary coincidence, Highland Roads Recovery, and we were treated to photographs of various wondrous road repairs across Highland. We dealt with this by simply re-posting with pictures of Caithness 'cart tracks' alongside. Highland Roads Recovery seems to have gone quiet. Caithness Roads Recovery is very much still here.
"Since we set up CRR we have posted thousands of photographs, we have written hundreds of thousands of words, we have appeared on STV and BBC, we have been on Caithness FM and MFR frequently, we have featured in the national press, and we have lost track of the number of stories published by the John O'Groat Journal and Caithness Courier.
"We have taken the fight as far as the Prime Minister, the First Minister, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the MP, numerous MSPs, the chief executive of Highland Council, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and to every single agency that could possibly help. Most recently, Thelma Mackenzie [chairwoman of Thurso Community Council] and I travelled to Holyrood to ask for representations to be made to Westminster, in the hope that we might get levelling-up funding for the county. We can but hope.
"From very small beginnings CRR has evolved into one of the most powerful campaign groups in Scotland. One single post on our Facebook page has been read by just over 240,000 people in the past 72 hours, and we are aware that our posts and news stories are followed by politicians across the spectrum.
"There is a huge groundswell of public opinion behind us, and it is long past time that politicians, of all parties, realised just how strong that feeling is – and acted. Yes, there has been quite a lot of additional investment from Highland Council since CRR started – £3 million extra in 2023/24 – and we like to think that our efforts have played a part in this, but we need well over £20m more.
"There is no doubt whatsoever that Caithness is very much 'on the map' now. We have said from day one that the state of our roads is simply a visible symptom of a far deeper malaise – the utter disregard for anywhere outside the centres of power, and the total lack of inward investment to 'remote' areas. It is safe to say that there cannot be a single minister in Edinburgh who is unaware of the campaign – or Caithness – and that is a big improvement."
What would you say is the main reason potholes have become so bad in recent years? Or, rather than a single specific reason, is it simply a matter of many years of under-investment gradually taking its toll?
"The blame for the current situation cannot be laid at the door of a single council administration. There has been a serious lack of investment for many years. Reducing the roads budget – or failing to increase it for major works – is an 'easy option' as the consequences do not become obvious immediately. A few years can pass before the inevitable collapse starts to become evident.
"Also, councils – across Scotland – have been seriously underfunded for years. It does not matter what the Scottish Government says, the facts are plain for all to see, and COSLA [the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities] has said so very clearly. CRR has frequently called upon the council administration to go public, acknowledge the sheer scale of the crisis, and demand the funding so desperately needed. There is no other viable option."
Are you determined to keep Caithness Roads Recovery going? If so, what are the next steps for the campaign and what is the ultimate goal?
"There have been times when the workload in running CRR (as well as working with charities and groups both national and local) has become quite an effort, but I think Caithness is now at a tipping point. The constant erosion of local services and facilities is completely unacceptable, and the continual centralisation of just about everything to the south places the future viability of the county in peril.
"We cannot, and will not, allow this to continue. For that reason, CRR – which is now far more than simply a 'roads campaign' – will continue, supposing I have to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and a new, equally high-profile, media campaign starts today. Caithness matters and we will fight on until the county gets the investment it is entitled to."
