A concerted effort can help capitalise on NC500 success says councillor
A CONCERTED effort by the communities through which the North Coast 500 runs will ensure the route
remains of huge economic benefit to the area, and not “the highway to hell”.
That is the opinion of Linda Munro, Highland Council representative for North-West and Central Sutherland, a ward containing a huge stretch of the popular circuit.
As recently outlined in the Northern Times, NC500 has brought a tremendous boost to tourism in the area, with its success far exceeding the expectations of the North Highland Initiative, who conceived the idea of a 500-mile circular route from Inverness, around three coastlines.
But for locals trying to go about their day-to-day lives, it has become a nightmare as queues of motorhomes, motorbikes, cyclists and cars meander along the single-track roads, often with no concept of passing places. One described the route now as “the highway to hell”.
Councillor Munro contacted us this week to say: “In response to the various communications in your newspaper, I would like to give an overview of where we are in addressing a number of challenges.
“The North Coast 500 is a wonderful concept and has already seen an increase in visitors to our area. This has the potential to become a real and very welcome boon right across the area by increasing tourism numbers and spend.
“We have some of the best scenery in the world and we are willing to share it with everyone who is respectful of our area and drives courteously on our roads. Visitors bring all sorts of economic benefits to the area, and the additional business can help sustain services such as local shops and petrol stations that may not otherwise be commercially viable. Part of the attraction for people coming here is our beautiful, open countryside and indeed the novelty of travelling on single track, remote and rural roads. However, as they dawdle their way along, visitors are not thinking about local working people, including our doctors, nurses, cluster head teachers and of course care workers travelling to change shifts in residential units or delivering care at home.”
Mrs Munro asked how more people can be encouraged to visit whilst raising their awareness of local road users.
She said: “I discussed my concerns on Tuesday with the director of community services William Gilfillan and yes, the Highland Council is actively seeking to arrange a joint funding package to improve road signing and driver education along the route, as well as providing some additional signs in the north-west of the county within the next month.
“We recognise that the majority of the promotion of the route is through businesses along the route and will be working with Visit Scotland, the local destination organisations, caravan clubs, hotels, B&Bs etc to ask them to get the same message across.
“The condition of the road surface is also something we all want council to improve and the director has said regular inspections of the route are being carried out to ensure defects are attended to timeously. And I know that the Sutherland county committee is keen to prioritise road spend on the route and I will encourage this.
“Overall the important message from me is that Sutherland is open for business. With some lateral thinking and planning and residents’ continuing patience, we can make a huge success of this whole venture.”
