Thurso and Northwest Caithness council ward candidates quizzed by public at lively hustings meeting

OVER 100 people turned out to hear from the six candidates contesting the Thurso and Northwest Caithness ward seats at a lively hustings meeting, less than 48 hours before the Highland Council elections.

The event in the town's Pentland Hotel on Tuesday night lasted two hours and covered a wide range of subjects from the state of the roads to maternity and health, the nuclear industry, the creation of a Caithness council to safer routes to school and funeral costs.

The candidates – Iain Gregory (independent), Struan Mackie (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, incumbent), Matthew Reiss (independent, incumbent), Ron Gunn (Scottish Liberal Democrats), Karl Rosie (SNP incumbent) and Alexander Glasgow (independent) – outlined the reasons why the public should vote for them as one of the four ward representatives. They also faced a number of questions from the audience as well as from chairman, Steve MacDonald, who works for the Criminal Justice Service in Wick and is a presenter on the community radio station Caithness FM.

On nuclear energy, five of the candidates gave their backing to the industry and the bid to get small nuclear reactors built in Caithness although Karl Rosie was accused of "waffling" by the audience when he said it was the UK Government which cut the funding for Dounreay. Mr Rosie also claimed Rolls-Royce – the company behind the initiative – would not build reactors where the transmission costs are high.

Asked about the decline in health care and maternity services in the far north, the candidates agreed Caithness has to get a model that works for the area and one which does not result in most mothers having to travel over 100 miles to Inverness to give birth. Matthew Reiss pointed out that 80 per cent of pregnant women in Orkney have their babies there.

A member of the audience, Billy Sinclair, said the care is not up to standard and is "a bloody disgrace" while Ron Gunn, the chairman of the Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) said the problem with the maternity service stems from NHS Highland's decision to downgrade the consultant-led facility in 2016. Alexander Glasgow said the service has to be "safe and sustainable." Karl Rosie claimed the redesign of health and social care, started in 2017, is starting to address the issues.

All the candidates agreed mental health is an issue in Caithness and said it is unsatisfactory that the police are having to deal with so many of the calls. An estimated three out of five calls are for mental health issues. Campaigner, Peter Todd, pointed out that there has been 16 locum psychiatrists in Caithness in the past 12 months. Former Highland councillor, David Flear, said there used to be a consultant here and a place of safety at Caithness General hospital in Wick. He said it is "unacceptable" that is no longer the case.

Regards the condition of the roads, Iain Gregory of Caithness Roads Recovery, said they are "an absolute disgrace" and a result of a decade and a half of under investment and have got to be fixed one way or another while Struan Mackie stressed he has voted every time for more money for roads. Matthew Reiss argued that Highland Council does not receive its "fair share" of funding from the Scottish Government with Alexander Glasgow claiming the council had been allocated money for use on roads but it was not spent "in all or part."

Ron Gunn said he would like all eight Caithness councillors to press Highland Council to get more money from the Scottish Government.

Billy Sinclair asked how much money Highland Council allocates to services in Caithness but was told it was " a complicated formula". Mr Sinclair wanted to know if the funding for the far north is spent here or elsewhere and claimed the money should be spent where it is needed.

Iain Gregory said money should be spent sensibly and argued for Caithness to have its own MSP, council and health board.

Struan Mackie said there is " a real lack of local authority accountability" and maintained if Highland Council was a business it would "have been bust years ago."

A member of the audience asked who has the power to break up Highland Council and wondered if it resided with Westminster or Holyrood.

Mr Mackie said the power was with the Scottish Government and Highland Council could ask ministers to carry out a review. That has a better chance of happening if the City of Inverness had its own local authority, he claimed.

All candidates backed safer routes to school initiatives and agreed roads and pavements should be safe for children and adults as well.

The high cost of funeral charges was also raised at the meeting with prices described as "atrocious" and "a scandal."

Asked if they would oppose any further increases, the candidates said they would with Iain Gregory and Alexander Glasgow stressing they would back a reduction in cost. Matthew Reiss would accept an increase of around two to three per cent but not eight to nine per cent.

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