Fury as Wick road repairs shelved
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One councillor branded the move completely unacceptable.
Scotland TranServ proposed to resurface South Road this summer but the work will not go ahead amid claims it has run out of money.
The company is responsible for the section of road on the A99 which forms one of the main gateways into the town. Councillors were given assurances maintenance work would start later this year but on Monday night they were notified by ward manager David Sutherland it will no longer be possible due to a lack of cash.
Wick councillor Bill Fernie said the decision has sparked anger among local people who have been calling for the road to be repaired for years.
“What we were told is that TranServ have run out of money and that they no longer intend to carry out the work at the present time,” he said.
“I have asked that we get back in touch with a very strongly-worded letter that after five or six years of the road being dug up continuously, it is unacceptable to pull out of the repair work. It is extremely disappointing that after so long of calling for the work to be done TranServ are coming out to say that it won’t happen.
“As most drivers in Wick know, they have been forced to bump around on that road for years ever since it was dug up to redo wiring and pipes underneath, and it has been left in a horrendous state ever since,” he said.
“There has been some patching work, but it still remains a very bumpy road and it has been left to deteriorate. There has not been any notification of when TranServ expects to be in a position to prioritise the road again for resurfacing.
“We’ve been told it’s off and then it’s on before being told it’s off again and it isn’t good enough.”
TranServ originally postponed plans to resurface the road until drainage issues were addressed, but Mr Fernie said these problems have now been resolved.
The proprietor of the Clachan Bed and Breakfast in South Road, Elspeth Bremner, is disappointed, but said she is hardly surprised.
“It is an announcement which we have become accustomed to hearing,” she told the Caithness Courier. “This is an issue which has been moved from pillar to post ever since we started campaigning about the state of the road. South Road has been badly affected ever since the introduction of the Wick retail park, as the road has been unable to handle the increased amount of traffic.
“We were assured by the transport minister that the work would get done, but obviously there has been a change. It has got to the point where motorists have resigned themselves to the fact that potholes are just part of the road, but why should people have to put up with it?”
A spokesperson for Scotland TranServ confirmed it has pulled out of the planned works due to a lack of cash.
“There was the possibility of extra funding and as the South Road scheme in Wick was already designed, it was considered for construction,” he said. “On that basis consultation was progressed but, unfortunately, the funding did not materialise and in terms of next year’s programme the scheme did not have enough ranking points to be included.”
