Opportunity for 'huge' tourist growth highlighted
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A CAITHNESS councillor has issued a plea for better transport links while recognising the opportunity for “huge” tourist growth.
Councillor Struan Mackie raised the issue at Highland Council with a motion calling on the Scottish Government to take action to improve rail services across the Highlands, co-signed by Councillor Willie Mackay.
This follows renewed calls at national level for the Scottish Government to make good a promise from a decade ago by the then First Minister, Alex Salmond, to make rail competitive with road.
Green Highland MSP John Finnie as well as deputy Green leader Patrick Harvie have both urged First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to act, saying it would benefit both the economy and the environment.
Councillor Mackie wants the emphasis to be on “punctuality, relief drivers, availability, cycle transport, toilet reliability and provision of snacks or coffee trolleys”.
He said: “Improvements to these services are urgently required to encourage tourism, reduce carbon-inefficient road transport and improve the Highlands’ reputation as an excellent place to live, work and travel in.
“The opportunity for slow tourism across the north is huge but a joined-up effort between all levels of government, transport providers and the private sector is needed to capitalise on this for Highland communities.
“Connectivity can be a key enabler to making this happen but viewing any one form of transport in isolation can sometimes do more harm than good.”
Councillor Mackie welcomed news that the Dingwall business improvement district (BID) project is aiming to be a “gateway” to the Highlands by sending visitors to the north and west by rail.
He said: “With the stunning scenery, wildlife and genuine rural connectivity across Caithness, Sutherland, Ross-shire and Lochaber, could our railways be the next NC500?”
The manager of the Dingwall BID project, George Murray, has already sketched out a plan to benefit from the North Coast 500 that aims to include the whole north.
He said: “We came up with the idea of making Dingwall the natural start and stop point for a new way of doing the NC500 by rail and by road – that will benefit our neighbouring towns all the way to Thurso and Wick.
“I see Dingwall as a gateway to all we have to offer in the region, so starting from Dingwall would see increased demand on just the sort of businesses we have right now and wish to promote and attract in the future."
We came up with the idea of making Dingwall the natural start and stop point for a new way of doing the NC500 by rail and by road
To achieve that long-term vision Councillor Mackie insists there has to be more investment in the railways as well as other forms of connectivity.
“Regional and even local connectivity is patchy and, although developing, this was promised extensively in the ScotRail franchise agreement. Easy transition from rail onto local bus services or private hire taxis has not come to fruition across the whole of the network.
“Some airports such as Wick do not have a bus service aligned with their daily flight schedule, so passengers are encouraged exclusively to take a car from the moment they arrive in Highland.
“We simply need to get smarter and join the dots between our bus stances, train stations, ferry terminals and airports."
The national calls for rail improvements cross party lines with regional MSPs such as the Greens' John Finnie and the Conservatives' Jamie Halcro Johnston both making the case for investment.
Mr Finnie said: “This is an issue which has been running on for too long.
"It was more than 10 years ago an SNP first minister made a promise to the people of the Highlands that rail travel would become competitive with road.
“In the meantime, little has happened to make some semblance of parity between road and rail.”
Mr Johnston reinforced Councillor Mackie’s point about “connecting the dots” concerning the “missing link” to and from Orkney.
He said: “I wrote to Stagecoach to raise concerns over the difficulties constituents had with the service between Scrabster and Inverness, as well as connecting between Thurso railway station and the ferry terminal.
“Surely it can’t be so difficult to ensure, when travellers arrive at either the ferry terminal at Scrabster or at Thurso railway station, there is a bus available to provide a public transport connection between the two.”
