FORT William is a place with a setting that is almost unparalleled anywhere on the planet.

Dominated by Ben Nevis, and sitting on the banks of Loch Linnhe, it is easy to see why it draws millions of tourists to enjoy its charms and the beauty of the surrounding area.

It is also one of the major towns in the Highlands and is a place to stock up on essentials before heading north or west to more remote places if you’re a tourist.

However, it is also a place that is struggling to cope given that it has infrastructure that is no longer fit for purpose, if indeed it ever was.

While long delays on the main route in or out of the town is frustrating for tourists, for local businesses it is increasingly becoming economically disastrous.

So much so that businesses are now warning that the congestion is preventing them from expanding, with some now saying they will have no choice but to invest elsewhere.

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Lochaber Chamber of Commerce said getting through the town had been a problem for years but it was now at “crisis point”.

Major local employers such as BSW Timber and fish farm giant Mowi are among businesses to express frustration at delays getting raw materials in and getting products out.

But predictably, the Scottish Government said it had no plans for improving travel through the town.

This is particularly disappointing as the local MSP is none other than Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes.

Most of the congestion occurs on the notorious A82, which literally winds its way north from Glasgow, through Fort William and on to Inverness.

Spectacular it may be, but the road is not fit for purpose and is a blight not only on the Highlands, but the whole of Scotland too.

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It is perhaps at its worst as it heads through Fort William with several bottlenecks with locals saying that journeys through the town that would normally take five minutes now take as long as 45 minutes.

Lochaber Chamber of Commerce said it had met three different Scottish Government transport ministers over the last six years in an effort to secure road improvements.

Chief executive Frazer Coupland told the BBC: “I don’t think there is a single business in Fort William it’s not affecting.

“Businesses are not sure whether to invest.”

Improvements, including a link road, have been in the planning system since the 1970s but had not been progressed since the late 1980s.

So this is not a new problem and it beggars belief that nothing has been done for the past 40 years.

There is no question that if a similar sized town near Edinburgh or Glasgow was suffering from such problems, the money would have been spent by now and the problem solved.

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But because it’s in the Highlands, an area largely ignored by policymakers and planners in the capital, nothing is done.

It is a similar situation with the upgrades of the A9 and A96, and the ongoing disaster of the ferries.

Politicians talk at length about repopulating the Highlands and making it economy sustainable, but until they sort out the basics first, the area will continue to suffer.

Hopefully, Kate Forbes can use her new position to finally speed up infrastructure upgrades in an area that has been forgotten for far too long.

It is the least the long-suffering, beleaguered Highlanders deserve.