Caithness group lodges formal complaint against council for 'failing in its duty to maintain roads'
A Caithness campaign group has lodged a formal complaint against Highland Council over the "shocking" state of local roads.
The move came as Caithness Roads Recovery lost patience with the local authority over the extent of potholes and crumbling carriageways and reiterated its fear that "a fatality will occur" unless urgent action is taken.
The group's co-founders Helen Campbell and Iain Gregory wrote to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) alleging that the council has failed in its duty to maintain the roads – "with a consequent highly negative effect upon the lives, safety and wellbeing of the citizens of Caithness and its visitors".
The SPSO is the final stage for complaints about local authorities, the Scottish Government and its agencies and departments as well as other public bodies.
At the same time, Mrs Campbell and Mr Gregory have written to the council's chief executive Donna Manson about what they call "a complete lack of investment" in the county's roads.
In their letter to Mrs Manson they also highlight the widely held view that Orkney's roads are in a much better condition than those in Caithness and criticise a plan to turn Inverness Castle into a tourism gateway as an £18 million "vanity project".
Mrs Campbell and Mr Gregory tell the local authority chief: "The state of the Caithness roads is an absolute disgrace and many of us are asking what do we pay our taxes for? It’s little wonder that Caithness feels ignored, abandoned and neglected."
In their letter to the SPSO, dated August 13, the campaigners say: "The condition of the roads is shocking. Injuries and damage have occurred, and we believe that a fatality will occur without urgent action."
They note that Highland Council says it has insufficient funds and the Scottish Government regards it as entirely a matter for the council, while the UK government sees it as an issue for Holyrood as a devolved responsibility. "In the meantime, the roads network continues to deteriorate, and the effects upon the people of the county become ever more serious, with a recent serious and potentially life-changing injury occurring, and the certainty of a tragedy occurring if action is not taken."
They go on: "We believe that there is a failure of the council to correctly carry out its statutory duties. Whether there is sufficient funding is not the point here. If a statutory duty exists, then it must be fulfilled, and the function of Highland Council is to expedite this appropriately and make safety a priority."
Mrs Campbell and Mr Gregory point out that they met with the chief executive and leader of the council on May 14, then on July 4 sent a comprehensive report to Mrs Manson, but say they received no reply.
"We believe therefore that we have exhausted all avenues with Highland Council and we have been advised from the outset by Transport Scotland, on behalf of the Scottish Government, to refer this matter to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman if we remain dissatisfied with the outcome," they add.
In their letter to Mrs Manson, also dated August 13, the Caithness Roads Recovery campaigners state: "You will note that every letter from Transport Scotland puts the responsibility on Highland Council, and... the council has received its fair share of the available funding to maintain our roads.
"This is not for us as a campaign group to debate or delve into. What we are doing is raising the absolute fact that our roads are crumbling, unsafe and causing injury to people, affecting health and wellbeing, affecting businesses, and may impact tourism."
They add: "To date, we have not yet seen one person in authority stand up to take ownership and say that the safety of the people driving on the roads of Caithness is of the utmost importance. This is wholly unacceptable.
"Many of the people of Caithness are becoming increasingly disillusioned, appalled and frustrated with the entire situation of how our roads are being ‘managed’, and the apparent lack of urgency and ownership over their recovery."
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “The council leader, Margaret Davidson, and CEO Donna Manson met with the Caithness roads group earlier in the summer. Officers are considering a detailed paper from the group which was received in July during the summer recess and a response will be provided in due course.
“The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 states that a local roads authority shall manage and maintain roads that are on its list of public roads. The act does not state that roads are to be kept entirely free of defects as it would not be possible to do so. Additionally, local authorities also have fiscal responsibilities and are required to spend within their limited budgets with the resources available.
“The allocation for structural road maintenance is distributed between the operational areas as a percentage, assessed by the outputs from the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey and road length. With the additional capital investment made by the council, the total capital budget allocation for Caithness was £1,202,581 for the year 2021/22. These monies include a ward allocation for councillors to decide where on the adopted road network the funding should be spent.
“Potholes or other defects can be reported to the council using the online 'report a problem' form for potholes that is available at www.highland.gov.uk/report."
