The north/south divide of Camster's crumbing road

A retired teacher stood in one spot on the Camster road and took pictures north and south to highlight a "discontinuity" in maintenance.

Peter Darmady lives at Roster next to the C1029 Occumster to Watten single-track road which was recently reopened after extensive work in the area. Despite many improvements made to the road during the many months it was closed there is one particular area where the surface has deteriorated to such an extent that one side of the route has broken down and a large deep pothole is almost impossible to avoid when driving.

Peter said: "Having learned about the shortfall in road repairs budget, I can reveal where the cut-off lies – it's here, on the Camster road.

"This single track route has had an interesting history of repairs and it is a typical Highland road in that it is long, remote, used daily by a few people and cuts off a very long detour. It also acts as a bypass when the A99 is out of action between Occumster and Thrumster. It is a highway which takes one through a wonderfully bleak landscape and I never fail to enjoy the sweeping views over the carbon sequestrating moorland."

Peter says that the poor state of the roads in Caithness is a hot topic and notes how many say that "the council should do something" and call the situation "a disgrace".

"But the sad fact is that the council is broke," he continues.

"It has mandatory expenses such as school transport, care for the vulnerable and so on. It's a matter of pennies in and pounds out. This, as Mr Micawber would point out, leads to misery. The council revenue is simply not sufficient for its needs."

He believes that the solution lies with the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood together with the local electorate and that council tax revenues need to be revised and a local income tax considered. "The former is based on an outdated formula to do with property values in the 80's and the latter is considered electorally dodgy.

"The thing is, we can't have low taxes and high-grade services. If we want good roads, adequate classroom staffing and a solid maternity unit, we have to pay for it."

Analysing the road, he says that once a crack appears in the "relatively thin tarmac, it spalls off and the pothole emerges". Then the traffic inexorably breaks it down more and more once the process has started. "The reasons as to why there is a discontinuity are to do with constant traffic and repairing one bit at a time. This is, of course, to do with budget constraints.

"Meanwhile, take it slowly and watch the road as you cross the budget cut-off," he concludes.

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