Budget proposals for protecting road maintenance in Highland

In recognition that roads are a high priority for communities in Highland the Administration at The Highland Council will be putting forward a budget on Thursday (15 February) that protects the budget for local roads.

Chair of the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Allan Henderson said: “We have nearly 7,000 kilometres of roads in the Highlands and this network is vital to our rural communities and lifeline services. Every penny invested in maintaining this critical network also helps to support our tourism and business economy as well as improve connectivity for everyone in the Highlands. This is why the budget we are proposing protects spending on roads and will allow us to drive forward continued improvement to the network.

He added: “This winter we have faced challenges due to the ice, snow and low temperatures.  This has meant that our roads team have only been able to undertake temporary pot-hole repairs using cold tar. They will continue undertaking as many of these as they can while also carry out winter gritting duties. However our programme of planned pot hole repairs and other road maintenance works will start in March when the weather improves and there are no frosts.

"I urge motorists to report potholes using the online ‘potholes’ form on the council’s website www.highland.gov.uk/report so that we can plan and prioritise the most urgent repairs.”