Villagers baffled and frustrated by delay over Reay gateway signs
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Community councillors say they are baffled and frustrated by a continuing delay in installing new village gateway signs on the outskirts of Reay.
Two signposts containing up-to-date information about local attractions and amenities were bought and paid for by Caithness West Community Council and were delivered to the county eight months ago.
However, members understand that the signs and accompanying posts have lain in a Highland Council depot in Thurso ever since and say they have been given no indication of when they will be put in place by the local authority's roads department.
Emails to Highland Council staff asking for an explanation are said to have gone unanswered.
A local Highland councillor has called the situation "really disheartening" for villagers who are potentially missing out on tourist business. Reay is on the A836, part of the North Coast 500 route.
The previous gateway signs on the eastern and western edges of the village, which had become dilapidated and out of date over the years, were taken down last summer. The poles that supported them remain in position, some of them bent and rusting.
The community council arranged for replacement signs to be made by a company that had been recommended by Highland Council. The cost came to more than £1000, paid for through the community council's own funds and some Forss wind farm money.
The replacement signs are said to be of exactly the same dimensions as the old ones, with new symbols encouraging motorists to spend time in and around Reay. The village has accommodation, historic attractions and a popular golf club as well as the beach at Sandside.
The completed signs are said to have arrived in the Highland Council roads depot at Janetstown, Thurso, in May 2022. However, community councillors have been unable to find out when the signs will be installed – and have already missed out on one summer season.
They say the only information they have been given is a warning that the new signs may either have to go behind a safety barrier or be erected on passive safety posts, which are designed to reduce the impact if a fast-moving vehicle collides with them.
It is understood these options could mean significant further costs for the community council.
Councillor Matthew Reiss, who represents Thurso and Northwest Caithness on Highland Council, said: “By any standards, this has been genuinely frustrating for the community council. They've paid for the new signs but their emails have gone unanswered.
“When finally they did get an answer, to rub salt into the wound, they've been informed, as have I, that apparently the traditional standard steel poles that these signs are attached to may have to be replaced – probably at the community council's expense – with the newfangled passive safety posts."
Councillor Reiss, a former area police commander, went on: “The places you normally see these things are on trunk roads and busy roads. Reay has a 30 mph speed limit and where the signs are intended to be located, I just cannot see any real risk from just using the normal poles.
“It's more than dispiriting – it's really disheartening for them. I'm aware of at least one other situation in the county where the same thing has happened."
Councillor Reiss claimed there had been "utter inertia" from Highland Council on the issue but added: "It's not a criticism of the actual roads staff. I suspect that the staff are overworked and there are so few of them that they seem to have very little capacity to do anything beyond the run-of-the-mill work.”
Community councillor David Craig said: "We have spent money on these signs. They were in line with what we were told to do, so Caithness West Community Council is baffled – and very frustrated – at not being able to get the new signs erected."
One villager, who did not wish to be named, said: "[Highland councillors] Matthew Reiss and Struan Mackie have tried to get this pushed forward but it just seems to be a brick wall every time. If Highland Council can't do it, who can?
"Councils are strapped for cash just now but we just want them to dig a couple of holes and put the signs up. It's not rocket science."
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “The signs referred to are brown tourist signs which have a specific application process that must be adhered to.
“Brown tourist signs are subject to a specific application process which was not followed prior to the new signage and posts being designed, nor was it approved before placing any orders.
“Details on this process are on the VisitScotland website.
“Legislation changed since the period from the original signs being erected and so replacing like-for-like is not an option. If the correct application process had been followed the council would have asked the community to provide designs for the signs plates, poles and foundations.
“The council is trying to accommodate the community’s brown tourist sign request retrospectively, within its current priorities and available resources.”
