Area committee reject plan to downgrade winter road service on Achmelvich school route
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Members of the Sutherland area committee have rejected a proposal to downgrade winter road maintenance levels on a north-west Sutherland school route.
At a meeting on Tuesday, members were asked to agree upon the re-prioritisation of the U1053 Achmelvich road as part of a Highland Council review of winter gritting route priorities in Lochinver.
The amendment would see the north-west Sutherland route downgraded from “secondary” to “other” in order to comply with the local authority's winter service policy.
The reduction in service level would mean that the road – which stretches from the junction with the B869 at Achmelvich Bridge to Achmelvich – would only be treated when resources and conditions permit, as opposed to meeting the current target of 9am on weekdays during conditions of ice and light snow.
Members stressed that the route, which is noted as a service bus route, should be prioritised as a school bus service, and as such should not be downgraded.
Speaking on behalf of Assynt community council and local residents, councillor for North, West and Central Sutherland, Marianne Hutchison said that the downgrading of the Achmelvich road would be seen as "completely unacceptable".
Ms Hutchison said: "To me, it is a flawed system from the beginning. If it is based on service bus transport, its a double-whammy as you have fragile communities who don't have a public bus service, and therefore the next impact is that they aren't prioritised in terms of road maintenance.
"I can't pretend it's not disappointing. There just doesn't seem to be any equity in the provision for the maintenance of the roads. It seems to be a bit of a postcode lottery in our area, which it often is.
"Its children getting to school. You also have teachers trying to get to work, and other people trying to access services, and trying to have social opportunities. It's not just one thing. The wider impact is that these are communities we are trying to build up and make more resilient. We are trying to make them communities that families want to come and live in and be happy there and be able to do all the things other people are able to do.
"So, when you are a family and you are thinking, where do I want to live? Do you want to live in a place that has a fair chance to access these things, or somewhere where you don't have a fair chance?"
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North-west Sutherland councillor Hugh Morrison added: "Assynt has always been a difficult area to do gritting on. We had four gritters at one point, and plenty of men and we are down to two gritters and three men now. I think we recognise as members that we don't have the resources we should have in Assynt, or enough equipment to serve the area.
"At the end of the day, we are just trying to get kids to school in a safe environment. It may not be a service route, but it is a school route and kids getting to school is a vital service for us. When thinking about getting people to come and work in Assynt, they aren't going to come here if they can't get their kids on a bus to school."
In conclusion, committee chair Richard Gale proposed the removal of the recommendation to re-prioritise the Achmelvich road and a "return to the the status quo".
Mr Gale also proposed a review of Highland Council policy on winter maintenance to be sure that school routes are prioritised in future.
Members also noted that a move to increase service level for the C1003 road from Lochinver Primary School south to Inverkirkaig Bridge, would not be possible.
At a previous area committee meeting on August 8, members had proposed to re-prioritise the stretch – a distance of approximately 2.5miles – from the category of “other” to “secondary”.
The recommendation was made as it is being used by primary and high school pupils and currently 16 young people depend on the route to access their education.
But council roads manager Joanne Sutherland stated that the amendment would not be possible due to constraints related to council policy target times.
Ms Sutherland highlighted that upgrading the route could have an impact on the treatment of existing “secondary” routes causing delays of up to 1.25 hours.
