Roads campaigner says Caithness needs to break away after being 'ignored and marginalised' under Highland Council
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Frustration over the way many Caithness roads have been left to fall into disrepair has developed into a growing conviction that the county should break away from Highland Council, according to campaigner Iain Gregory.
He says his experiences since co-founding Caithness Roads Recovery nine months ago have led him to conclude that the county has been "ignored and marginalised" under the existing Inverness-based council and would fare better with its own local authority.
“Caithness Roads Recovery started out purely and simply to try and get something done about local roads," Mr Gregory said. "It has now become quite clear that the roads are a symptom of a much deeper malaise.
“I recently popped on our Facebook page a simple question to people to say, 'Do you think Highland Council is properly serving the people of Caithness? Do you think that we should have once again a Caithness County Council? Should we have perhaps a Caithness and Sutherland council? Should we have island status?'
“The response has been astonishing. People that have come back and said, 'Yes, we believe that things were far better run in the old days – we do not believe that we are being correctly looked after by Inverness.'
“Decisions that affect people living in the county are made in a faraway city.
“Caithness has been neglected, it has been abandoned, it has been ignored and it has been marginalised for far too long. It isn't just me saying this – this is the feedback we are getting from the public.
“I honestly think that if we carry on the way things are, with Inverness and with Highland Council, it's only going to get worse.
“There's a lot more than the roads involved in this – we're looking at the whole future of the county. Young people need to be persuaded to stay in Caithness. How are we going to do that?
“We've got to make the place attractive, we need quality employment, we need a quality environment.”
Mr Gregory was dismissive of a bid for Inverness to be granted Lord Provostship status through the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee competition. If successful, the new status would be conferred on anyone in the role of provost of Inverness, bringing the Highland capital in line with other Scottish cities.
An application will be submitted by December 8 and it is expected to cost around £3500.
Mr Gregory said: “Sorry, but there are major problems – not just in Caithness, but Caithness is particularly bad.
“There are other areas that are not good, but the feeling we have is that Caithness is far worse. It's a very long way from the centre."
Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has called for Highland Council to be split up after questioning whether the local authority can still be considered “local”. The move would see the creation of an Inverness city council, while the rest of the region would get its own local authority areas.
“Emma Roddick has popped up saying it's time for Inverness to have its own city council and become independent from the rest of Highland region," Mr Gregory said.
“I would turn that round and say, 'Great, but I think we need to have independence from Highland Council.'
“Personally I think that regionalisation/centralisation is very rarely positive. It might give savings in overall costs but does it serve the people in the most effective way? I think the answer perhaps is no, it doesn't.”
