Works are to begin on an additional £1.5m worth of repair schemes on Highland Council roads this summer. A review of the council’s capital budget showed that there was an underspend in resources required for IT investment and so the funds have been redirected road repairs.
Caol and Mallaig councillor Allan Henderson, chairman of the council’s environment, development and infrastructure committee, said: ‘We are very pleased that the council’s priorities for roads can be met by taking up this opportunity to repair our severely deteriorated network which was heavily damaged by the long winter. We have continually been managing an overspend on roads since last winter and the continued demands on patching and pothole filling will be helped immensely by this additional funding.’
A total £1,450,000 funds are being allocated across the region’s area roads networks, according to the council’s road distribution formula and road condition index. A small allocation of £50,000 will also be used to upgrade the winter ice alert systems that the council uses to monitor winter road conditions for gritting.