SARAH FYFE: This is not the end of our Dual The A9 campaign, it’s just the beginning

In February of this year, my colleagues and I gathered around a computer screen in silence, fixated on an image of a tombstone emblazoned with the words: "RIP SNP promise to dual the A9 by 2025".

None of us were prepared for the viral reaction when we unleashed our front page on social media. Importantly, support cascaded in from our fellow Highlanders – though many laughed and told us that the SNP would never grant us another interview.

I’m writing this column on the train home from Edinburgh on December 20, having just left a private meeting with First Minister Humza Yousaf, where he signed The Inverness Courier's A9 Pledge, providing a "cast iron guarantee" that he would prioritise meeting the new 2035 completion date.

Far from being blacklisted, advocating for ourselves and our readers put necessary pressure on decision-makers and made us impossible to ignore. In the 11 months spanning from that tombstone front page to the First Minister signing our pledge there has been a lot of hard graft – some of it in the public eye, much of it behind closed doors.

As a modest local newspaper from the Highlands, we have achieved several feats that typically elude publications of our size. We were the only regional media to host a leadership debate featuring all three SNP candidates. A government employee, who shall remain anonymous, walked in and remarked: "Wow, this is like a real debate set-up!” – a sentiment that later became an office joke.

A similar comment surfaced at our A9 Crisis Summit. Perhaps they anticipated an amateurish high school-style project in a non-descript village hall.

The calibre of the effort invested in our Dual The A9 campaign stands as a testament to each member of our team who has rolled up their sleeves and worked tirelessly this year.

This gained us News Media Association's Making a Difference Award for best campaign, and we’ve been shortlisted for front page of the year by Hold The Front Page (you can vote for us here).

However, let's not mistake this for a moment of jubilation; no champagne corks will pop at Inverness Courier HQ. The new completion date is still 10 years late, and our scepticism for promises being delivered remains.

This marks a crucial milestone, not the conclusion. Rest assured, our campaign will continue until the A9 is fully dualled between Inverness and Perth: you have my cast iron guarantee.

Sarah Fyfe is the head of content and audience at Highland News & Media.

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