Roads chiefs at Dumfries and Galloway Council are adamant that they will find the necessary additional manpower to handle a harsh winter over the next two years.
The local authority is intending on spending £800,000 to recruit 10 more temporary roads operatives until March 2024, and the first job offers are being made this week.
Another round of advertising and interviews are being lined up to ensure that all 10 posts are filled – which was a concern for Annandale North Councillor Gail Macgregor.
Speaking at the council’s communities committee on Tuesday, she said: “How confident are we that we’ll be able to recruit? I’m aware that we have a regional lack of skills in certain areas, and would just like some confidence that we will be able to get staff into those roles.
“Do we have capacity within the region to utilise that £800,000 effectively, particularly given that they are temporary posts?”
Council officer Stephen Hall replied: “We’re in the process, in the next couple of days, of giving initial offers to a number of candidates.
“We did get more applications than there are posts. Not all the applicants met the necessary criteria, so we will be going straight back out again.
“But we’ve seen a really good, positive level of interest. It’s just now assessing whether those people have the right skillsets that we need in order to be really productive and become great members of the team.”
With the state of the region’s roads one of the biggest complaints from residents across the region, councillors unanimously welcomed the move to inject more resources into the struggling service.
An annual report on the condition of the roads was tabled at the communities committee, which included the results of a customer survey carried out between July and October this year.
The online survey gave Dumfries and Galloway residents the opportunity to share their views on the roads and transport service.
A total of 1,527 people completed the survey, with 1,420 of them (93 percent) stating that they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the condition of the roads maintained by Dumfries and Galloway Council.
