Highlands blighted by developments it doesn’t want
There’s no shortage of infrastructure coming into the Highlands at the moment.
The trouble is, none of it is of any use to the people of Caithness.
I’ve yet to meet a constituent who thinks pylons, battery storage facilities and onshore windfarms are what our countryside really needs.
And yet they seem to be the only major projects coming before the council and the Scottish Government to have any kind of impact – usually a negative one – on people and businesses.
After more than 17 years in power, why can’t the SNP government deliver what people actually demand?
If towns like Wick were in any other developed country, its geographical isolation wouldn’t necessarily be a barrier for connections to other parts of the country. But as it is, residents face numerous obstacles if they want to travel down to Inverness, or indeed busier cities further south.
And let’s remember, because of a dearth of local services – not least on the part of the NHS – such journeys are mandatory.
They have to travel on dangerous roads and, were they to travel beyond Inverness on their journey south, have to do so on a single road which should have been dualled for safety reasons long ago.
As we approach the teeth of winter we’re also reminded that the road from Wick to Inverness will be very easily closed in bad weather, not purely because of snow itself but thanks to a failure to ensure a full-time heavy-duty plough is available every time we need it.
The option of rail travel isn’t much better. The failings of the train network are well documented, but things seem to get worse at this time of year.
Earlier this month ScotRail announced services would be curtailed at the weekends in the run-up to the festive period. That is another shortcoming that could put people off travelling for Christmas shopping or to visit friends and family at a busy time of year.
And my office revealed research in recent weeks showing how spending on free bus passes – a scheme that overwhelmingly favours urban areas – eclipses similar support for ferries: £350 million for buses, a paltry £1.3 million for ferries.
It exposes yet again the bias of this Scottish Government when it comes to central Scotland.
But ministers in Edinburgh, and indeed in London, don’t seem to have any trouble green-lighting energy infrastructure for our area.
Emboldened by mega-rich, international energy firms, they want to impose changes on the Highlands from which we may never recover.
Infrastructure that seems to benefit everyone else, yet leaves scars and major disruption right across our countryside.
Again, these don’t seem to be impositions placed on much of the rest of central Scotland.
Constituents rightly tell me that if you live in the central belt the infrastructure projects are designed with people in mind. There to help and support those who need it most.
New roads, homes and hospitals? No problem, they seem to spring up all the time.
Developments are springing up in the Highlands too.
It’s just that nobody wants them, nobody here needs them, and aside from me and my Scottish Conservative colleagues, no-one seems to be standing against them politically.
If government ministers cared to pay us a visit, local residents wouldn’t be slow in telling them that too.
Edward Mountain is a Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands.
