AFTER being contacted by community councillors in Kingussie, Dave Thompson, MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, has written to Transport Scotland to call for better care of the town’s High Street.
Mr Thompson was particularly concerned to be told that street furniture in Kingussie was unkempt and scruffy, that pavements were cracked and dangerous and that parking bays on the road were too small for cars to use.
Since Kingussie High Street forms part of the A86, responsibility for its maintenance lies with Transport Scotland and work is carried out by its contractor for the area Scotland TranServ.
Therefore Mr Thompson has written to the senior roads manager for Transport Scotland to ask that the matters raised by Kingussie and Vicinity Community Council be addressed as a matter of urgency.
“Nobody likes to see their High Street looking tired and tatty but this is even more of an irritation for towns like Kingussie which rely on tourism for many jobs,” he said.
“People are less likely to stop and get out for their cars for a look around if the first impression they get of a town is one of neglect so I was keen to ensure this matter is given priority by Transport Scotland and its contractor.
He added: “I was particularly concerned to be told that contractors had disregarded calls from locals to resize parking bays which are too small and had merely painted over existing markings, leaving the problem uncorrected.
Within an hour of contacting Transport Scotland, Mr Thompson had received a reply from the agency’s head of roads (North) to say that he would take the matter up with Scotland TranServ and he gave a commitment to respond to Mr Thompson and the community council with concrete proposals to remedy the situation by the end of this month.
Note:
Letter from KVCC:
KINGUSSIE AND VICINITY COMMUNITY COUNCIL
2nd August 2011
Dear Mr Sinclair
Re TRUNK ROAD MAINTENANCE ISSUES IN KINGUSSIE.
Since June 2009 Kingussie & Vicinity Community Council have been in contact with TranServe Scotland in an attempt to expedite several maintenance issues surrounding the A86 Kingussie High Street. Being unsatisfied with the response we have received to date, we are contacting you in the hope that you may be able to arrange this maintenance work to be carried out.
We initially requested that the lamp standards on Kingussie High Street be repainted, as the flaking tatty paintwork gives a scruffy unkempt appearance to the town. We were assured that this would be done, but when we queried it some time later were advised that it was not in the budget for that financial year. We asked for the job to be included in the 2010/11 budget, and received written confirmation that it would be included subject to our preferred colour scheme (repainting of the original scheme: green with gold trim) being approved by Transport Scotland. Financial year 2010/11 came and went and we are still no nearer to hearing when our lamp standards are to be repainted, although we note that new yellow identification stickers have been placed on all of them. However, the lamp standards of our near neighbours in Newtonmore are in good decorative order as are those of Aviemore, although we appreciate that as Aviemore is not on a trunk road it does not fall within the remit of Transport Scotland.
We had also requested that parking bays on the High Street be re-painted making it clear that the original dimensions should not be followed, being incorrect as they were too small. In November 2009 this task was carried out, but despite everything we had said the new markings were painted on top of the existing ones resulting in the bays still being too small. We are still waiting for the re-painting of the general road markings, which are in a poor state of repair.
Most of the footways along High Street are also in very poor order if not potentially hazardous, and require resurfacing. Indeed, the northbound section of footway between Columba Terrace and the bus stop had been included in TranServe’s 2010/11 proposed revenue programme, but is still awaiting re-surfacing.
We write this in desperation, not knowing what else we can do. Most of our local economy is dependent on tourism, and people will not stop in a town which looks as though no one cares for it because it appears scruffy and un- loved. We realise that the economy is very tight at present but this has not always been the case, and we are becoming increasingly disheartened at the way in which Kingussie always seems to be the town which is last on everyone’s list.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr Alan Davidson
Chairman
Kingussie & Vicinity Community Council
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