Caithness Roads Recovery group urges Highland Council, Scottish Government and UK government to work together to fix roads in far north
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Ignored, abandoned, marginalised. Three words that sum up the immense strength of feeling about the shocking state of the roads north of the Ord of Caithness.
A hard-hitting report has been compiled by campaign group Caithness Roads Recovery that pulls together thousands of words and scores of photographs they have received that underline the "extremely serious" problem.
The dossier has been sent to those in power, including the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, as well as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, Minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove, Scottish Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes and Scottish Transport Secretary, Michael Matheson.
It has also been copied to Highland Council's chief executive Donna Manson and MPs and MSPs across the north of Scotland.
The campaign group, formed by Iain Gregory and Helen Campbell, is calling for governments at local, Scottish and UK level to work together to find a solution to a huge funding shortage to bring the roads in the county up to standard.
The pair claim there is "a sense of outrage" in Caithness at the condition of the roads which they say is causing stress and anxiety to people in the area who feel "ignored, abandoned and marginalised". They say deaths will result if nothing is done.
"If the Highland Council, the Scottish Government, and the UK government do not sit down and act together, then there will be fatalities, families will lose loved ones, and futures will be destroyed. And for what?" the report asks. "For want of a tiny fraction of the vast sums of money being spent elsewhere in Highland and around Scotland and the UK.
"Safety is of the utmost priority here and must not be ignored.
"The dire circumstances are continuing to directly impact the safety, lives and livelihoods of thousands of locals and visitors on a daily basis. The people of Caithness are astounded as to how our roads have ended up like this and it simply cannot – and must not – continue.
"We do appreciate and respect that you are very busy with numerous competing priorities. However, this issue is extremely serious and as personal safety is always of the highest priority, we ask for your full attention to study this report in detail," the report adds.
Caithness Roads Recovery says it is critical that the funding is made available to fix the roads permanently and bring them up "to the same degree of safety from which the A9 and A99 trunk roads benefit – as do the roads in most other counties, towns and cities".
The report notes that Highland Council has agreed to increase spending on roads across the region by £9 million over two years but stresses that falls "massively short" of the £194 million needed.
To keep the Highland network in a "steady state" – no worse and no better than it is now – is estimated to cost between £26 million and £28 million a year. The council is proposing to spend £22.7 million this year while next year it is £20.7 million.
The group wants a high-level project plan and schedule to show the recovery of the Caithness roads over the next two years and a 10-year high-level plan of how roads in the north will continue to be properly funded and maintained.
"Caithness very much looks forward to seeing these plans so that we can feel valued, respected, and most importantly safe," adds the report.
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