After it was announced on Tuesday the Highland Council had found an additional £1.5million worth of funding to fix Highland roads, an Inverness councillor has welcomed the move, but has his concerns over how far the funding will stretch.
The additional £1.5 million funding to the roads budget has been made available after an underspend was established in the Highland Councils ICT investment.
Councillor Andrew Jarvie, of the Inverness South ward, believes “there is a lot more to do.”
He said: “I am delighted that we were able to prioritise roads and that we got an 18 per cent increase over what was in the budget. However, given that the cost to fix the damage from last year alone was about £26m there is a lot more to do. Roads and schools are our capital priority and we will continue to divert as much cash as possible there.”
A five-year capital plan has been agreed by councillors with roads maintenance being prioritised in any situations where an underspend is established.
Of the allocated lump sum, £50,000 has been set aside to improve the ice alert systems used by the council to monitor and establish which roads require a grit spread over the winter months.
