We’ll do our best with roads but we don’t have enough – Caithness councillors agree road spending priorities in county
Caithness will spend more than £3 million on road maintenance and repairs in the coming financial year, but it won’t be enough to do everything to keep on top of the county’s needs.
Councillor Ron Gunn, who chairs the Caithness committee on Highland Council, admitted the funding was not enough as the priorities for the works were agreed.
Members of the local area committee on Monday agreed a prioritised programme of works for structural overlay and inlay works and surface dressing schemes which will be funded out of the Capital Budget allocation for 2025/26.
In March last year, the council agreed the Roads Capital Budget Allocation for 2025/26 as part of a three-year investment into roads. A total of £21.15 million will be distributed in the same way as last year with a strategic allocation and a base capital allocation.
This saw Caithness and Skye receive a bigger share than other parts of Highland in an effort to better maintain the roads in these rural areas.
The allocation for Caithness is set at a similar level as last year and totals £3,162,594. The council said that £50,000 of this is allocated for structures.
Cllr Gunn said: “We know that we don’t have all the funding we need to do everything we want, but agreeing the capital roads priorities for the coming year not only helps us allocate funding according to priority but sets out a clear work programme for our staff.

“We will continue to do the best we can with the resources we have.”
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The local authority said the works were prioritised based on information from the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey (SRMCS) data; safety inspections; service inspections; and input and feedback from local councillors.
The councillors also heard from the area roads manager who provided members with details of the works on the 2024/25 prioritised list completed to date and details of the additional works identified and prioritised throughout the year.
Cllr Gunn thanked staff who have been providing a winter service for their efforts during the recent challenging weather.
He said: “On behalf of the committee I would like to thank our roads operations teams who have been out at all hours during the recent very challenging bad weather conditions to clear the snow, ice and debris from our roads.
“They have been terrific and have worked so hard to keep routes open.”