Why Highland residents were 'not surprised' the council was rated Scotland's worst - but should it be split?

There needs to be a “shift in mindset” rather than splitting up the Highland Council area, communities have said, after their local authority area was ranked the worst.

Highland Council, the largest in the UK, and which covers a land mass almost as big as Belgium, came bottom for public services, according to a recent Sunday Times list.

It has been suggested the local authority area, which covers large geographic areas such as Caithness, Sutherland, Wester Ross, Easter Ross, Badenoch and Strathspey and the Isle of Skye, be split up. 

The suggestion was put forward by MSP for Skye and Lochaber, and Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes.

Deputy first minister and MSP for Skye and Lochaber Kate Forbes | Skye Commercial Photography

Highland Council, which has a population of 235,000, ranked bottom for both health and education out of 29 mainland council areas. It was also the weakest in literacy, with just 65 per cent of P1, P4 and P7 pupils achieving the expected level in the subject.

The local authority said it was disappointed with the result, and said the analysis presented the information in way that did not reflect the true picture of Highland.

It said the analysis did not take into consideration the unique geography of the region. Councillor Bill Lobban went as far as saying Highland is “the most fantastic area to live, work and do business which is why a large number of international businesses are flocking to set up operations here.”

He said: “We have a hugely ambitious, self-funded, development programme in education, housing and public services. I simply do not recognise the place that The Times claims to portray.”

But the communities in the area didn’t appear all that surprised by the bottom ranking. 

Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council made a “crise de coeur” this year regarding the urgent need to arrest the continuing decline in population, services and infrastructure within the county within the local authority area.

Members wrote an open letter saying they continue to face “a worsening situation.”

They said an average person in Dunnet and Canisbay has up to 20 miles to travel to Caithness General Hospital, without the assistance of “convenient public transport.” There are also a number of services and procedures which are currently not available at Caithness General, which can include routine consultant appointments. For these, a roughly 240-mile-round trip navigating poor roads and lack of public transport is needed to travel to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

Poor broadband, and roads that are “potholed and crumbling as to be an embarrassment to not just to the Highland region, but to Scotland as a whole”, the letter added.

Jenny Milne, founder and director for Scottish Rural and Islands Transport Community, set up to address transport challenges facing rural and islands communities, also commented on ongoing issues with services in the region.

Jenny Milne, Founder and Director, the Scottish Rural and Islands Transport Community CIC | contributed

Speaking to The Scotsman, she said: “I am not surprised Highland Council has been ranked at the bottom. The roads aren’t safe to drive on, particularly when we have the influx of tourists at this time of year.

“In the 30 years I’ve worked in transport, I don’t think I’ve ever seen transport services here so grim. I am not surprised Kate Forbes put the suggestion to split the area up.”

Ms Milne, however, said simply splitting up the local authority area would be too simplistic.

“What we need is a change in mindset,” she said. “I am torn when it comes to splitting the area up, as there’s a lot of interconnected parts that link to issues that the communities all share.

“But there’s a problem with the policy makers that are very central belt-orientated who might not understand the challenges.”

Her comments were echoed by Mark Gibson, vice-chairman of the John o’ Groats Development Trust, who said: “Our area suffers many problems, not least the state of the roads (only now starting to be addressed), lack of public transport and a view that policies are made for large population areas and then imposed upon us.

“Right or wrong, these are the views we hear from people every day and for some there is a feeling of alienation from the big decision making.

“Policies being ‘done at us’ from a hundred miles down the road. That sense of isolation from the big decisions can be increased by the fact that there are only two roads into or out of the County and one railway line.”

Mr Gibson said the Trust is not in a position to give a definite answer on whether the council area should be split up, but its key message is “one size does not fit all” and the wishes of each individual area needs to be respected.

MSP for Inverness, Fergus Ewing, said to split Highland Council would “take many years and cause considerable disruption.”

Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn constituency | Jane Barlow PA

He said more power needs to be devolved to councils with regards to spending, and there needs to be “a fairer financial settlement for the Highlands as a whole - especially reflecting the huge additional costs that the Highland Council faces.”

“The current funding formula is hard to change but it’s clear that the Highlands by many assessments lose out badly,” he said.

Rather than splitting the Highland Council area up, Mr Ewing said: “I would prefer to see say seven or eight councils in Scotland as a whole, but with more powers devolved to each of them.    

“The problem may not be that Highland Council is too big, but rather that many other councils are too small.

“The costs of having multi senior directors of various functions all with fairly hefty salaries,  must be enormous and in a country of Scotland’s  population  size, they seem to me to be  hard to justify.”

He said Scotland is “massively over-governed”, and that the “clutter” of public bodies “makes things unnecessarily complex, causes huge duplication and inordinate delay.”

“Many of these quangos are far removed from Highland - and widely regarded by many in my patch - especially in rural parts - with great suspicion and mistrust,” he added.