Roads in Argyll and Bute are in a worse condition than anywhere else in Scotland, an official report has revealed.
The Audit Scotland report also shows that the council has increased spending on road maintenance more than almost anywhere else in the country – but still has the biggest shortfall between the amount actually being spent and the total that would be needed to keep the roads in their current condition.
The new study assesses progress since 2011, and says councils ‘urgently need to be more innovative’, especially as their funding has been cut.
Accounts Commission chair Douglas Sinclair, said: “The state of our roads is a major concern for the public.
“Surveys show that they remain dissatisfied, despite these concerns being flagged up in our two previous reports. Their voice needs to be listened to.
“Councils face increasing pressures and challenges but progress in developing a shared services approach for roads has been disappointingly slow. They can and should collaborate much more to secure better value for money.”
It shows big differences in different parts of the country – in the Orkney Islands 79% of the roads are said to be in acceptable condition, but in Argyll and Bute the figure is just 44%.
Argyll and Bute is roughly mid-table in terms of its spending per kilometre of road, and the report also shows the spending locally has increased by more than 100% – second only to Dumfries and Galloway – since 2011.
Despite this, the report states than Argyll and Bute needs to spend far more just to stand still and keep roads in their current condition.
A council spokesperson said roads had seen a ‘major investment’ of nearly £30m in the last four years, adding: “Ours is one of the fastest improving road networks in Scotland.
“This successful investment project has seen a mix of resurfacing work, patching, surface dressing and in-situ surface recycling throughout the council area.
“Since the start of our roads capital programme we have upgraded around 45% of our ‘A’ roads and 35% of our ‘B’ roads, 400 miles in total, with an overall improvement of 3%.
“There are now more roads throughout the council area regarded to be in green or good condition and, more importantly, fewer roads in the red or at risk state than there were four years ago. Almost 90% of our ‘A’ class roads are in good or fair condition.
“It should, however, be noted that the Road Condition Index (RCI) does not necessarily take into account the unique topography of Argyll and Bute and can indicate that some of our roads are in a red condition when they are, in fact, entirely serviceable.
“The methodology also considers all ‘A’ designated roads in the same way, whereas in practical terms these roads can differ greatly, from Great Western Road in Glasgow to an ‘A’ road on Jura.”
The full report can be downloaded here: nr_160804_maintaining_roads
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