£2.3 Million to be invested in Highland Council roads

The Highland Council has agreed to invest £2.36 million in repairing the regional road network.

The non-earmarked balance of reserves from 2014-15 is £5.928 million. It was agreed in December that £0.467 million from balances would be put towards resources for 2016-17 and new budget pressures for 2015-16 have been identified, amounting to £2.601 million. £0.3 million will be allocated to the Strategic Change and Development Fund to assist savings proposals where there are upfront costs. This leaves a balance of £2.560 million available.

As road maintenance has been recognised as a priority for the Council, it was agreed that £2.36 million should be invested in repairs during 2015-16.

It was also agreed that £0.2 million will also be allocated to mitigating the impact of cuts in grants to the Voluntary Sector.

New Chair of Community Services Committee, Cllr Allan Henderson welcomed the decision saying: “We have the longest road network of any Local Authority in Scotland, with well over 6,000 kilometres of roads. Whilst it will not repair every pothole, it is a significant sum which will go a long way towards giving us some real improvements.”

Leader of the Council Margaret Davidson added: “I am glad that road maintenance has been recognised as a priority and I am sure that use of surplus funds for this purpose will be greatly welcomed by many people across the Highlands.”

There are some 6,752 kilometres of regional roads network across Highland.

The allocation for Structural Road Maintenance is distributed between the Operational Areas on the basis of need as assessed by the outputs from the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey (SRMCS) for 2014.

Area offices have submitted fully costed schemes capable of being delivered this financial year. Those schemes include surface dressing, recycling and resurfacing works and include for drainage works and white lining where required.