Year 2, Week 40
Meetings, works at the war memorial, new windfarm at Ferness ...
Meetings, meetings, meetings …
I have an even busier week that usual this week with multiple meetings every day except Friday, when I only have one. Of the public meetings Monday night is the first meeting of the new Cawdor and West Nairnshire Community Council at 7:30pm at the primary school/community centre and I hope to see some of you there.
On Tuesday I have Licensing Board and then Licensing Committee. At the former we will be considering a major variation of licensing for Cawdor House, the ex B&B, now boutique hotel at 7 Cawdor Road in Nairn which I think is an item which may be of interest to local residents.
The rest of the week is taken up with the last round of meetings on the council’s budget for 2024/25 which is coming to council for approval on 29th February, an Appeals and Disputes Committee meeting on Wednesday to rule on an employee dispute, and on Friday I am at a workshop for the Nairn & Nairnshire Community Partnership where I expect to see some familiar local faces.
Pavement improvements at War Memorial
The council’s Road Safety Team are proposing some works at the four way junction of Cawdor Road, Cawdor Street, Westbury Rd and Millbank Crescent by the war memorial in Nairn which is the area shown below.
As a pedestrian this area is particularly difficult at the moment with wide crossings and these works are designed to take road space and create an easier area for those walking and wheeling to negotiate while not affecting the parking and retaining current traffic flow. The improvements are being made by taking road space from currently hatched off areas and the very wide junction of Millbank Crescrent.
These works will not make any changes to the slabbed area by the war memorial or memorial garden but will make a significantly wider pavement in front of the war memorial. The British Legion are already aware and are content and and council staff are contacting community councils and Millbank school to see if they have any feedback on the scheme but if you have any concerns then feel free to email me.
Cairn Duhie windfarm
The Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit has this week given the go ahead for the 16 turbine Cairn Duhie windfarm at a location south east of Ferness to the east of the A939. This went through planning before my time on council but I understand that these are turbines with a blade tip height of 149.5m so won’t need navigation lights at night (unlike the one we saw at the South Planning Applications Committee this week located down at Glenmoriston where the tip heights are 200m, so will sadly).
The map below shows the locations. Ferness is in the top left corner and the turbines, number T1 to T20 are shown across the site.
Thanks to Linda for the heads up on this one. She tells me that the developer was proposing to bring the turbine components in along the B9007 so that may cause issues, both for residents of Ferness and for other users of that road.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted:
23/05942/FUL - Nairn County Football Ground, Balblair Road, Nairn - Removal of existing floodlights; erection of 8 x 15m high lighting columns with LED lights
24/00103/FUL - West Lodge, Kinsteary, Auldearn, Nairn, IV12 5HZ - Erection of extension
24/00232/FUL - 2 Simpson Street, Nairn, IV12 4NT - Incorporate shop unit into house
24/00254/FUL - An Conaisg, Lochloy Road, Nairn, IV12 5LF - Revised house design (23/04757/FUL)
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.