The Highland Council has agreed to hold top level talks with BEAR Scotland, the private company with responsibility for trunk road maintenance in the Highlands, to explore how best an enhanced service can be provided to the public in adverse weather conditions.

This meeting is to complement the action being taken by the Council to persuade the Scottish Executive that more resources need to be devoted to the trunk road winter maintenance operated by BEAR.

"Public safety is of paramount importance," said Councillor Charlie King, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Roads Community and Protective Services Committee, "so we need to take a number of actions to improve the current level of service provided to the public and to restore the public’s confidence in the winter maintenance operation."

The Executive had been made fully aware of the shortcomings of the contract at a meeting with local councils in Perth on Monday, while a meeting was being held soon with BEAR to examine shared use of facilities and salt.

He stressed that BEAR was not to blame for the recent failures to cope with sudden heavy falls of snow. The fault lay with the terms of the contract awarded by the Scottish Executive.

He said: "The public is not receiving the same level of service as previous years and this is beginning to impact on local communities and local businesses. There is no point is the Government devoting £10 million of subsidy to the Funicular Railway if nobody can get there because of an inadequate road clearing service. We all need to work harder to restore public confidence in our roads during the winter months."