Work to improve a notoriously dangerous section of the north’s main trunk road could be delayed by up to 18 months.
A public inquiry may need to be held into the proposals for the Berridedale Braes stretch of the A9 Inverness-Thurso road, due to a number of outstanding objections.
The potential delay emerged after Scottish Labour’s transport spokesman David Stewart MSP wrote to the Scottish Government, raising concerns about the slow progress of the work.
Transport Minister Derek Mackay responded and said that, following the publication of the draft road order material for the scheme last year, a number of objections to the proposals had been received.
Mr Mackay told Mr Stewart it was likely a public inquiry will be necessary – which could cause delays of between 12 and 18 months.
Last night Mr Stewart said: “This will be extremely frustrating news for everyone living and working in the north of Scotland and the Orkney Isles. The Scottish Government has taken far too long to progress this project in the first place and now it looks like it could be delayed again for around another year and a half before any work even begins on the road.
“Anyone living or doing business in Caithness or the Orkney Islands will rightly be furious that they can expect even slower progress on the improvement project than has already been experienced. Due to the potential need for a public local inquiry, work might not start on the improvements until 2017 at the earliest.
“The Scottish Government has repeatedly told us they are making ‘good progress’ on the improvements, although this is obviously not the case. Complaints about the ongoing delay are building up from the business community, and the clear message is that the Scottish Government should stop giving people in the far north the run around and be more open and honest about this project.”
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We have been working hard to progress the Berriedale Braes improvement scheme following the publication of draft orders last year.
“However, we must observe our statutory obligations, and have received objections to the draft orders. We will continue to work with stakeholders in an effort to resolve them, but if unsuccessful the statutory process requires that we proceed to a public local inquiry, which we would expect to be held this winter.”