Highland Council has fifth worst roads in Scotland with maintenance shortfall estimate of £10 million a year amid war of words over ‘hypocrisy’ versus ‘honesty’
Official figures reveal that Highland Council has the fifth worst roads in Scotland as the local authority was accused of “hypocrisy” over its handling of the situation.
Scottish Transport Statistics for 2023-24 reveal that 39 per cent of Highland roads are in a poor condition.
The council also has access to figures to help calculate the minimum required spend on roads in the region to maintain the network in its current condition – the so-called “steady state” or “standstill figure”.
That is calculated by the Scottish Collaboration of Transportation Specialists (SCOTS), a body representing Scotland’s 32 local authorities and seven regional transport partnerships, including Highland Council.
The most recent steady state figure the we have from the council stands at just over £25 million, but this was from 2022 and relies on data from 2019. There is now evidence that the council is falling behind the minimum investment to achieve a steady state.
From 2019 onwards, council officials stated in every single road investment report to local areas from Caithness to Badenoch and Strathspey that: “Increased deterioration of the road network correlates directly with lack of investment”.
But in 2023 they started using this phrase: “The level of investment across Highland falls short of the budget requirements to maintain a steady state condition of the road network. Deterioration of the overall network will occur with a corresponding risk to the travelling public. An increase in damage claims can also be expected, as the road defects develop”.
Under the currently agreed plans the total investment from 2024-25 to 2026-27 stands at £63.40 million, breaking down as £20.70 million last year, £21.15 million this year and £21.55 million next year.
At yesterday’s full council meeting, Thurso councillor Matthew Reiss asked the council leader Raymond Bremner: “Is Highland Council achieving, in the current financial year, the ‘standstill figure’ for roads maintenance works across the council area?”
The answer from Cllr Bremner was: “There is no standstill figure available for the current financial year. The standstill figure is not calculated on an annual basis.
“As you know, there is a lot of work going on at council in respect of how best we can provide for our roads network at the ‘Roads Review’ which is currently going through the redesign board process.”
Cllr Reiss responded later, saying: “I asked a simple and straightforward question about a practical matter, namely roads maintenance. The answer is slippery, vague and pathetic.
“This type of devious answer and attitude, ignoring the spirit of the question, is exactly why the public do not trust politicians – who can blame them?
“This Highland Council administration waffles endlessly about ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ – what undiluted hypocrisy. The rot starts at the door of the leader – he could assert his authority and instruct that all communications will be honest and spin free, even when the news is bad.
“Presumably, the answer to my question was embarrassing so let’s resort to half-truths, technical nit-picking and smokescreens – just as happened with Academy Street and Avonlea.
“I wonder if all administration members agree with the decision not to publish straightforward figures on roads maintenance or was this subtle change of policy agreed by a select few?
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“Come on, Cllr Bremner, even now, why not change this approach for something the Highland public might recognise as being truthful and even, perhaps, a hint of humility that things are not as good as we would all hope for.”
Cllr Bremner hit back at the accusations from his fellow councillor.
He told the Groat: “Councillor Reiss asked for a ‘standstill’ figure for the current financial year. The current financial year is 2025-2026. There is no ‘standstill’ figure for that year. That is the truth, and it is an honest, factual answer.
“Councillor Reiss may not like that and may have wanted me to reflect on other years, he did not ask for that information.
“Given the additional millions of capital investment that has been put into roads over the past couple of years and continues to be invested currently, it would be wholly inappropriate to speculate on what that figure would be or is likely to be.
“Not only is the council investing in continually increasing capital in its roads, it plans to sustain that over the next 20 years – the first time any administration has done this – it has also, for the first time, targeted areas that need it most.”
He added: “Furthermore, in the past few years, I have made sure, to the best of the council’s ability, that all the budget funding will be spent, and referred the whole roads infrastructure to the redesign board of the council.
“In contrast, when Councillor Reiss was deputy budget leader and vice-chair of corporate resources, between 2017 and 2021, there was no real sustained investment planned to increase roads capital funding.
“Not only was there no sustained investment planned to address the failing road network, unbelievably, there was also a huge underspend in roads surface dressing of £4.5 million – £1 million of which was underspent in Caithness, another £1 million of which was underspent in Sutherland – one of the most important tasks to preserve and sustain the life of our road surfaces.
“It is regrettable the language that Councillor Reiss uses and I would ask him to reflect on how he frames questions in future, in order to get the answers he seeks.”
Long-time roads campaigner Iain Gregory called for open dialogue about the serious state of the roads in Caithness.
Speaking for Caithness Roads Recovery, co-founder Mr Gregory said: “Some time ago I used the expression ‘a patchwork quilt of neglect’ to describe the state of Highland Council-maintained roads across Caithness.
“It is no surprise to learn that the council has fared so badly in comparison with other Scottish local authorities, with the situation across the north now at crisis point.
“The ‘steady state’ figure – which CRR used to refer to frequently when commenting on each year’s roads budget – was a very useful benchmark, and I find it deeply concerning that it would seem to be no longer available.
“I note, with interest, that the most recent ‘steady state’ figure is given as £25 million. The Bank of England CPI inflation rate calculator shows that the figure today would actually be in excess of £31.5 million.
“The 2025/2026 capital roads budget figure is £21.5 million, so the probable shortfall – just to prevent things getting any worse, if such a thing was possible – is at least £10 million.
“Roads across Highland require capital investment well in excess of £233 million, and CRR calls upon the Highland Council, and the Scottish Government, to face the unpalatable facts, to be open and transparent about just how bad the situation really is, and to act before it is too late.”
