Potholes
The traditional candidate post
There is a long tradition of candidates standing for election having photos taken of themselves pointing at potholes with the promise that they will do something to get them filled in. So let’s talk about this as I won’t be doing that and I’d like to tell you why.
For a start let’s face facts: this is a particular issue for Highland Council as it’s a largely rural area and we have many miles of road which are subjected to harsh weather every winter which takes its toll on them.
The current SNP Group on Highland Council has been working on this for a long time as the ruling group have underspent the money allocated by the Scottish Government for this issue.
As part of their budget demands last year the Group lobbied for extra money to be channelled to roads in last year’s budget, agreeing to £20,000,000 in investment over two years. This was boosted by a second phase, part of an additional £9,000,000 investment programme announced in June last year. A third phase was also agreed and is planned for the forthcoming budget year.
This has resulted in the purchase of new equipment and a considerable increase in the number of roads which have been resurfaced and surface dressed throughout the Highlands. In some areas, like Caithness, more than six times the money over the past number of years has been spent in resurfacing and surface dressing in the last year.
A briefing paper for the full redesign of road infrastructure has now been launched at the Redesign Board on Highland Council. The Group believe that allocating increased funds to continue the recovery of the road infrastructure has to reflect the following:
the nature of the service we require
the amount of money that we need to invest
assurance of best value outcomes for a redesigned service
an equalising of the roads infrastructure across the Highlands so that one area does not benefit to the detriment of another
It also allowed the Group to make sure the Administration invested even more this year. Hence, there is now an additional £2,000,000 recurring revenue to look after the capital investment last year and this financial year coming and £3,500,000 as a one-off spend that could mean additional resurfacing or machinery investment across the Highlands.
The total investment that the Group has been involved in providing is over £31,000,000. The Group continues to find funding that provides for a greater, more consistent investment in the recovery of our road infrastructure. The money that has been collaboratively agreed is consistently increasing capital funding for roads infrastructure.
So the bottom line here is that the current SNP Group on Highland Council has already increased funding on roads and, with my support if I’m elected, will continue to do so in future.