The Thurso roads next in line for repair
Four roads in Thurso are being prioritised for repair as Highland Council continues its uphill battle to make inroads on the huge backlog of outstanding work in the far north.
The local authority’s roads capital works programme for 2025/26 has 418 schemes on the waiting list in Caithness.
Thurso community councillors heard this week that work is set to go ahead to resurface Mount Pleasant Road/Laurie Terrace, Henderson Street, Forss Road and Sinclair Street.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, local Highland councillor Ron Gunn said the work is due to start “quite soon”.
While welcoming the news, council colleague Thurso provost Struan Mackie said: “The problem is that the roads list is not shrinking. It’s only growing.”
Caithness has been allocated £3,162,594 – the same as the previous year – out of the total Highland-wide roads repair budget of £20.7 million for 2025/26.
Thurso Highland councillor Matthew Reiss said he continues to receive numerous complaints about the rutted, pot-holed state of local roads.
He added: “There are similar problems on the other side of the county.
“The staff of the council are doing their best but there’s just not enough of them to get on top of the problem.”
Community council chairperson Thelma Mackenzie said the cold snaps have caused more damage to the road surfaces.
Community council member Louise Smith, who is a Blue Badge holder, said a lot of local disabled parking spaces are potholed. She said this causes particular problems for wheelchair-ramped vehicle users like herself.
Community councillors noted that work is continuing on improvements to the pavement running from Dunbar Hospital to the Castlegreen Road junction with Ormlie Road.
The work, which includes dropped kerbs, follows complaints about the state of the surface, especially for wheelchair users and people pushing prams and buggies.
After it is completed, the contractors will move on to improve footpaths at the town’s Mall.
The work is being funded by the Scottish Government’s active travel fund.
