Thurso Community Council warns lives could be at risk on icy roads
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Assurances are being sought from Highland Council over the level of gritting in Caithness amid fears that lives could be at risk on untreated roads.
Thurso Community Council says it is essential that pre-emptive treatment takes place when freezing weather is forecast and that school routes are covered well in advance of times when pupils will be travelling.
In a letter to the local authority’s recently appointed chief executive Derek Brown, the community council also emphasised that all gritters should be in "ready to go" condition.
It is understood that some of the Caithness-based gritting fleet have been out of action recently. Highland Council has been asked to comment.
This week saw a spate of accidents on Caithness roads, with at least a dozen reported on Wednesday morning alone. The A9 was blocked for a time near Sordale due to what was said to have been a jackknifed lorry.
The letter to Mr Brown was written by Iain Gregory, a Thurso Community Council associate member who was this week appointed as its secretary.
"Over the past 10 days or so, Caithness has been subject to frequent low temperatures, allied to damp atmospheric conditions, with the predictable result that black ice has formed across the county, with substantial numbers of road accidents occurring as a consequence," Mr Gregory wrote.
"This morning [Wednesday] has seen a spate of collisions across the county, and I understand that we are now well into double figures. One must hope that nobody has sustained injury as a result."
Describing the situation as "dire", he went on: "Roads have been closed, cars, vans and lorries have been involved in accidents, and I gather that the police have been called to one incident after another. Whilst we are fortunate to have highly efficient officers in Caithness, there is a limit to what they can do, and the same applies to the very hard-working Highland Council road crews.
"Caithness already suffers from appalling roads county-wide (not only in Thurso) in terms of their state of repair, and it is simply unacceptable that the public should be faced with lethally dangerous conditions on our roads and pavements whenever the temperature drops below freezing.
"People have to get to work, the emergency services need to be able to get to situations, care workers must be able to reach their clients, and our children need to be able to get safely to and from school.
"We need to make absolutely sure that pre-emptive gritting takes place – again, not only in Thurso, but across the county – when we have forecasts of potentially freezing conditions."
Mr Gregory added: "I am acutely aware of the budgetary constraints faced by the council, but we urgently need – and must have – increased road crew staffing levels, we need all our gritters to be in 'ready to go' condition, and we need a much greater budget for winter gritting in the far north.
"Above all, it is essential that school routes – both roads and pavements – receive attention well in advance of the times that children will be travelling, either by minibus or car, or on foot. I would be interested to hear what the current situation is in this respect.
"We really must act before lives are lost – and I fear that they will be without action."
In a separate and unconnected role, Mr Gregory leads the campaign group Caithness Roads Recovery which this week submitted a Freedom of Information request asking a series of questions about Highland Council gritting arrangements in the county.
Mr Gregory is also a member of Caithness Health Action Team. Speaking in that capacity, he said: "If ever proof was needed of the dangers faced by expectant mums and other patients on the long and tortuous journey to Inverness then Wednesday's conditions leave no doubt whatsoever."
