A single-track road in north Sutherland serving a village of ninety people is to be widened to twelve lanes, under a scheme responding to population projections that show the settlement reaching 40,000 residents by 2032.
The projections are driven almost entirely by inward migration from the south east of England. Kent alone accounted for 61% of enquiries to the local estate agent last year, a figure that would be more striking if the local estate agent had not previously received four enquiries in total.
The road is being built for the projection rather than the population, which officials describe as “planning ahead” and residents describe using other words.
Passing districts
The existing road is 3.4 metres wide with passing places roughly every 300 metres. The proposed road is 61 metres wide, and the passing places are being upgraded to what the documentation calls “passing districts” — laybys of sufficient scale to require their own access roads, lighting columns and drainage strategy.
Each passing district is larger than the village.
“My shed is on the other side. It was eleven steps. They have costed a footbridge at £2.4m and told me it is in a later phase.”
A resident whose croft the road will pass through
A crossing survey found that a pedestrian moving at average walking pace requires four minutes and ten seconds to cross the proposed carriageway. No pedestrian phase is included in the current design, on the grounds that the traffic modelling does not show pedestrians.
The scheme
- Current road: 3.4m, single track, passing places
- Proposed road: 61m, twelve lanes
- Current population: 90
- Projected population 2032: 40,000
- Shops: 1, closing at 4pm, half day Wednesday
- Bus service: Tuesdays
The projection itself
Pressed on the 40,000 figure, the modelling team confirmed it derives from applying south east England’s recent relocation enquiry growth rate to the whole of the north coast for six consecutive years.
Asked whether they believed 40,000 people would move to the village, the response was that the model does not express beliefs.
The bus, which runs on Tuesdays, is not part of the scheme.
