Year 3, Week 28
Visitor levy, council house rent consultation, community councils, Pension Credit, road closures, social media ...
Apologies in advance but this is a long one. It could have been longer but I’ve hold some things over to next week.
Visitor Levy
One of the things that’s been coming for a while now is a proposed Visitor Levy scheme across the Highlands. The way this would work is that anyone staying in accommodation in Highland, be it a hotel, B&B, self catering, or camp site would be charged a 5% percentage levy on top of the fee for the accommodation and this will go to the local authority, so in this case The Highland Council, to use to the benefit of the visitor economy. The estimate is that this will bring an annual income of more than £10M and for example, we could use it to improve the toilets on The Links or to set up a tourist information hub, or whatever.
If you holiday abroad this is something you may already be familiar with as schemes like this have operated there for many years.
Anyway before we can bring this in we have to run a consultation, which is now online at www.highland.gov.uk/vlconsultation and the council is encouraging everyone to comment. The consultation runs until Friday, 7th February.
Following this consultation the legislation requires that a report be prepared and published which is expected to be considered at a meeting of The Highland Council in spring 2025 and, should members then agree to implement a Visitor Levy Scheme, the earliest such a scheme could be implemented in Highland is autumn 2026.
Rent consultation
There is also another consultation going in which will be of great relevance to you if you’re a council tenant. This starts tomorrow, 18th November and runs until Sunday, 8th December. The details don’t seem to be live on the council’s web site yet - I assume they’re only going live tomorrow - but I’ll post them here and on my social media (see below!) once I’ve got a link.
There will be a drop in session about this in the Cadet Hut on John Street on 2nd December from 2pm to 4pm. See poster below for details.
Community Councils
Nairn River Community Council meets this Wednesday night, 20th November, at Nairn Community Centre at 7pm. Their agenda is not on their web site yet but among other things they will be discussing flood management, traffic congestion, and the parking review I mentioned last week.
Nairn West & Suburban Community Council meets a week on Monday, 25th November, at Nairn Community Centre at 7pm. Their agenda is on their web site here and they will be discussing toilets, the parking review and other issues.
Pensioner Credit
Your regional MSP Emma Roddick is really keen to ensure that as many pensioners in the region as possible are signed up to Pensioner Credit. The scrapping of the Winter Fuel Payment was a terrible early decision from the UK Labour Government, especially for the Highlands & Islands, and the Scottish Government is doing what it can to support folk.
The Winter Fuel Payment is now means-tested and will only go to those who are signed up to Pensioner Credit and Emma has been keen to ensure that as many pensioners as possible are signed up.
You can apply here https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit and you need to do so by 21st December to ensure you receive the Scottish Government’s Winter Heating Payment. If you need help or advice on this issue you can contact Emma and her team by email at emma.roddick.msp@parliament.scot or on 01463 563036.
Road closures
These are continuing at a furious pace.
Kingsteps/Druim
BT/Openreach are doing work on the C1159 Lochloy Road coming out of Nairn as shown on the map below.
These begin on Monday, 2nd December and to minimise disruption the closure will be rolling and implemented in 3 stages from east to west as per the plan below. Temporary traffic lights will be used (of which there were also some this week in the “stage 3” area so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on there) and local access will be maintained for Kingsteps residents within the closure extents. As well as this, access to Montgomerie Drive from Lochloy Road will be maintained throughout.
Cawdor
There is also a closure of the B9090 and U3151 roads in Cawdor Village (see map below) being proposed for Scottish Water beginning on 29th November.
This one is somewhat controversial and Cawdor and West Nairnshire Community Council are asking that it be moved to after Christmas. I will keep you updated when and if I hear more on this one.
Drumduan Mill
Finally there is an ongoing road closure of the U2297 road at Drumduan Mill because of damage to the bridge parapet.
Social media
I’ve mentioned here before that I have accounts on Mastodon and Facebook where I post links to every blog post and also more stuff besides, mainly more widely political than what I’m posting here. I’m also now on BlueSky where I’m planning to do the same. So do feel free to follow me on any of these accounts if you’re so inclined.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted:
24/04397/FUL - Hay Lodge, 8 Crescent Road, Nairn, IV12 4NB - Change of use to form five self catering apartments
24/04528/FUL - Upper Remore, Nairn, IV12 5UZ - Erect extension
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.