Walk and cycle plan for Thurso long overdue, says councillor
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PLANNED improvements to walking and cycling routes in Thurso are long overdue, according to a local Highland councillor.
Plans were originally commissioned by Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (Hitrans) 10 years ago as an "active travel audit for Thurso" looking at existing provision for walking and cycling and had suggested a number of routes connecting different parts of the town and out to Scrabster.
An announcement in May that Wick was earmarked in a draft proposal for the development of special cycle and walking paths in response to Covid-19 drew criticism from community representatives in Thurso who felt their town had been overlooked.
Thurso and Northwest Caithness councillor Karl Rosie said: "It's important that we address the fact that Hitrans had done work on this 10 years ago but there were no subsequent actions. We missed a fantastic opportunity. "
He said that Thurso Community Development Trust (TCDT) conducted a public survey on the same topic with the majority of respondents saying that the walk and cycle infrastructures could be improved in the town.
Councillor Rosie said this demonstrated that local people had a "great desire" to see changes made.
The data from 10 years ago showed that 59 per cent of journeys for work and study were less than 2km, meaning they could be comfortably made on foot or by bike.
Hitrans has now asked the consultancy Arup to look again at the original routes identified, and to work with local people to identify improvements that could brought in to encourage walking and cycling.
The new report will form an active travel master plan making improvements to walking and cycling infrastructure and creating places where people can walk and cycle safely in a pleasant environment.
Hitrans will then work with Highland Council and other local partners to deliver the actions and priorities identified in the master plan.
A targeted group of stakeholders have been selected by Hitrans and Sustrans to provide input. There is no formal public consultation exercise planned for the time being – this will take place as part of the later stages in the project.
Councillor Rosie feels there is great potential to "reduce motorised travel" in the town by encouraging cycling and walking.
"We can reduce the carbon footprint and build around current and future developments in Thurso such as the planned healthcare hub," he said.
The councillor also talked about the potential for rolling out similar plans to link towns and villages throughout the county and how wind farm funding could help subsidise the creation of these cycling and walking routes.
For more information on Thurso’s active travel master plan visit thursoactivetravelmap.commonplace.is/
