Highland has 6,754km of road network, 1,700km of footways and 2,180 bridges. Investment in road structural capital works, road surface dressing capital and investment in bridges, retaining walls and culverts will go some way to improve a number of roads across the Highlands.

Highland Council budget leader, Cllr Alister MacKinnon, said: “The increased capacity for spending on roads infrastructure comes as a result of the budget decisions taken in March 2020 and reflects the Administration’s key priority of improving this vital infrastructure.”

The Capital Programme update will see a £26.5m investment in road structural capital works, £5m investment in road surface dressing capital and a £1.9m investment in bridges, retaining walls and culverts over the next two financial years.

Additionally significant investment is planned on the Inshes Roundabout and Stromeferry rockface. Over £17m of investment is planned on the renewal of bridges including those at Invercoe, Acharn, Achnagavin, Naver, Genmore and Comar.

The Capital Programme update also sees significant investment across the council’s school estate. The council has committed £94m of funding to the construction of new schools in Tain, Broadford and Nairn as part of the Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Improvement Programme, whilst over the next two years there will be a £22.8m investment in Early Learning and Childcare and a £12.9m investment in the School Estate Improvement Programme.

Chair of the education committee, Cllr John Finlayson, said: “Communities across Highland will be happy to hear confirmation of investment in our vast school estate and it is also encouraging to note planned investment in both rural and urban areas.

“The investment recently in projects at Merkinch and Smithton and also those planned at other schools in Inverness will clearly help the capacity issues in the city, but equally, the plans for rural schools will also be greeted with delight and anticipation in other parts of Highland. Add to this the successful funding bids for new schools at Broadford and Nairn is really positive news for our school estate programme.”