Highland Council's planned £20 million cash injection for road improvements 'not enough' to reverse all of the damage to the region's 4000 miles of tarmac; councillor believes up to £190 million would be needed
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THE planned 4.84 per cent rise in council tax payments will not be enough to bring all the council-managed roads in the Highlands up to an acceptable standard.
Senior Highland councillor Allan Henderson revealed £190 million would be needed to reach that goal – a figure he had little hope of getting anywhere near in this year’s council budget.
Wind and rain over the past few weeks has caused damage to the roads network, with problems on council routes and trunk roads.
Highland Council is responsible for more than 4000 miles of roads, not including trunk roads such as the A9 and the A82, which are managed by Bear Scotland for the Scottish Government.
When asked about the current poor state of the roads, Cllr Henderson said: “The figure that Highland Council would be looking at to bring them up to standard is approaching £190 million. We also have all the bridges, which are not all in poor condition, then the road barriers, parapets, drainage and white lining to consider across 4000 miles.
“A total of £190 million would get them back to a standstill position, with probably about £20 million per year from then on needed to retain the status quo.”
The Independent councillor continued: “Highland Council gets the money from a Scottish Government grant and rates but has competing issues with schools and other areas so we can only allocate a tiny proportion.
“There are other possibilities for funding through extra ring-fenced rates or other commercial activities, but all these impact directly on the hard-pressed Highland resident. When we approach government they always say that we get ample to run the services it provides. From our road condition survey, that is clearly not the case.”
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: “Maintenance of the local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and we will continue to ensure our partners in local government receive a fair funding settlement, despite further cuts to the Scottish budget from the UK government.”
- Concerns have been raised about the poor state of the A82 between Inverness and Drumnadrochit.
A spokesman for Bear Scotland said: “We’re aware of the road surface on the A82 near Drummadrochit and our teams have been carrying out temporary repairs as required.
“A surfacing project is due to take place just north of Drumnadrochit to Temple Pier in the spring, which will address any road defects. We’ve erected uneven road signs to warn motorists and encourage them to drive with caution, with our teams continuing to monitor the area and carrying out hot surfacing repairs in the interim.”
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