NC 500 On TV

[Tom Bowler]

Saw the report about the issues created by the NC500 today.

I think many of us either know or have experienced the issues but what got me was the comments by The Highland Council's spoke person on the subject.

The statement of "We are where we are, so what can we do about it ?". A classic Highland Council attitude. I would suggest you get your fingers out from that dark place and plan some actions to be made for next year. If like many you are hoping that when foreign travel resumes all will be well then think again because foreign travel includes people travelling from the rest of the world to Northern Scotland.

No wonder Caithness and Sutherland are starting to feel like a third world country when you have people running it that clearly have no enthusiasm or ambition to improve what started out as a good idea but has eventually become an irritating farce.

Maybe the money spent on that riverside viewing platform down south would have been better spent on improving/increasing facilities for both tourist and residents up here.

[Gronnuck]

Sadly, parts of the Highland Region are being ruined by the promotion of the NC500. The company promoting the route make money of their advertising which is slowly backfiring on those same advertisers. There never was any attempt at ‘joined up thinking’ and Highland Council continues to fail to engage with the issue. Local communities are being left with the litter, the mess and the poop. Once beautiful areas now resemble a Tesco carpark on a Saturday morning.
Thankfully there are visitors who do the right thing and leave no trace. However there is plenty of evidence to show that we have been subjected to an onslaught of 'trash campers'.