Black Isle and Easter Ross area committee agrees priorities for capital spending on roads

PROPOSED spending on roads across a swathe of Ross-shire has been agreed at a Highland Council area committee.

A capital programme for 2024/25valued at £871,073 has been approved by the Black Isle and Easter Ross area committee.

The local allocations capital budget for 2024/25 remains to be established – it will be calculated from the approved capital budget allocation being adjusted for any acceleration or slippage in the previous financial year for each area allocation and analysis of the road condition survey results.

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The state of local roads remains one of the great bugbears of Ross-shire residents.

The council says the 2024/25 area capital roads programme is based on the previous year’s budget, "which is unlikely to vary significantly from the established budget that will not be determined until early summer".

As Black Isle and Easter Ross has a total of 44 per cent of the road length in the former Ross and Cromarty area, this capital programme is based on 44 per cent of the 2023/24 Ross and Cromarty Area Capital budget. Adjusting for accelerated spend, that amounts to £871,073.

The approved 2023/24 roads budget local allocations for the former Ross and Cromarty Area can be found in this report under Appendix 1. The 2024/25 programme is scheduled in Appendix 2 of the same report.

Chairperson of the Black Isle and Easter Ross area committee, Cllr Lyndsey Johnston, said: "The committee is delighted that these priority routes will be progressed, and I would like to commend the hard work of our area roads team on maintaining our roads network during not only these challenging financial times, but also in light of the severe weather which has such a negative impact on our roads."

The priority routes approved by members include:

• U1991 – surface dressing at the bottom section of the Glenglass Road, Evanton

• C1012 – surface dressing at various sites on Saltburn Road, Invergordon

• C1004 – surface dressing from Fendom Road, Tain to Fendom Junction

• C1012 – overlay at two sections at the bottom of Scotsburn Road, Tain

• U2524 – overlay on the Carse of Raddery Road, Fortrose, Phase 1

• U2585 – patching work on the Tore to Belmaduthy Road

• U2596 & U2599 – surface dresssing at Drumsmittal

Should extra funding be awarded there are a number of other roads in this year’s plan including:

• C1023 – patching on the Dingwall to Evanton back road

• U1953 – patching at Kendal Crescent, Alness

• U2013 – regulate and overlay at Foulis Station Road, Ardullie

There are a number of other roads earmarked on the "aspirational list of roads" requiring attention which can also be found in the report linked above under Appendix 2.

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