Year 3, Week 32
Nairn Academy, Breaking up Highland Council, Ardersier Port, Road closures ...
Apologies that there was no post last week. As a result this week’s is a longish one.
Nairn Academy
I’ve talked here before about the current issue with a shortage of teachers at Nairn Academy and I am getting a steady trickle of emails from concerned parents about it.
I am keeping a close eye on things and the head teacher, Julie MacDonald, has been updating the four ward members. I had a long meeting with her and her manager on Thursday, 28th November. I was also hoping to come to the Parent Council meeting on 3rd December but was prevented by medical issues. I suspect we will be meeting with Julie again before Christmas. I’ve also had several “on the fly” meetings with senior management and continue to do so.
I can tell you that adverts have gone out for a variety of replacements and those closed last Monday so hopefully at least one person will come forward for each of the posts and the school will be in a better position by January, but most teachers change jobs over the summer holidays so the big recruiting season is the late spring and not that many teachers are looking to move at this time of year.
I believe that the council's Central Education Team are providing all the support they can and are treating it with the urgency it deserves.
I have also had several people comment in emails on the way exit interviews are undertaken, something which also came up at the last Parent Council. The current system is that the employee's line manager (so the head teacher in this case) does the interview. This is not what I'm used to in the IT industry where either HR or a more senior manager undertakes the interview so I will be talking to the chief executive about that when we next speak as it seems to me that this is worth reviewing right across the council.
As you’ll know if you’re a parent or carer The Parent Council next meets on 16th January and I plan to attend and I will also continue to post updates here as I get them.
Breaking up Highland Council
We had a full council meeting this week and a motion was brought with the title “Break up the Highland Council”. You can read the full text here if you’re so inclined but I couldn’t support the break up of the council, even if it was possible, which it’s not at any time soon. Although there are all sorts of issues with having a council this large a return to the old system of “county” councils, at huge cost, both to set up and ongoing thereafter as the economies of scale are lost, doesn’t bear thinking about.
I’m proud to be able to say that after years of lethargy under previous councils the ruling group at this council, of which I’m part, has already agreed changes which will transform the Highland Council area, especially as a result of the Highland Investment Plan with its plans for schools, roads, and other capital projects over coming years, something which would be much more difficult, if not impossible, to pull off for small councils.
Having said that I’d be the first to acknowledge that there are weaknesses in the way the council works and, with that in mind, we agreed an amended motion which we could actually deliver. It read:
This Council acknowledges that Highland is geographically very large.
It is important that Council recognises the importance of devolved governance to Area Committees in order to fully represent our diverse local communities and to deliver the support and services that people of the Highlands, quite rightly, demand.
Therefore, this Council agrees to review the governance and funding arrangements of Area Committees so that they may better serve the needs of their local communities. The first step being to capture Member views in more detail with the establishment of a workshop and working group for the delivery of local democracy.
So the consequence of this should be that more decisions are made locally by the area committees, so in our case Nairnshire Area Committee. Sadly I was the only local member who voted for this amendment.
Other Council news
Talking of the Highland Investment Plan at council we have agreed to go ahead with the first phase which will result in significant changes at Dingwall. We will be looking for a similar “POD” development for Nairn in future.
The Highland Visitor Levy Scheme consultation period has been extended.
The council is undertaking another round of engagement as we start to prepare the 2025-6 budget, although we are hoping to make rather less changes this year as we agreed a three year ‘Medium-Term Financial Plan’ last year so this is more about tuning and refining that. Details and links here.
Ardersier Port
A bitterly cold Tuesday night saw a meeting of the Community Liaison Group held at the port and a group of ward and community councillors were dressed up in jackets and hard hats and shown around by Haventus.
They are now well advanced in their construction of the new harbour wall and the number of workers on site has dropped from a peak of over 500 to about 250 now. Once the wall is completed dredging will commence and the target is to have the work completed and the port open for business by late summer next year.
They still have no confirmed customers but among the people they are talking to is a company which will need 500-700(!) welders when they’re up and running. I doubt there’s that many with the right qualifications in the UK looking for work, let alone Scotland, so that’s going to be challenging.
Road closures
We still have the A96 closure to come as the start date for that keeps being put back. Meanwhile we have yet more local closure for work by BT/Openreach.
Moss-Side, Nairn
A section of road out to the west of Nairn, as shown on the map below, will be closed commencing on 6th January.
There will be diversions in place but local access for residents will be maintained throughout the closure.
C1174 & U3023 near Fornighty
A section of road from the A939 close to Littlemill going towards Fornighty, as shown on the map below, will be closed beginning on 6th January with local diversions in place.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted:
24/04751/FUL - Land 90M NE Of Broombank Farm, Auldearn - Erection of house (revised design)
24/04867/PNO - 5 Union Street, Nairn, IV12 4PS - Replacement UPVC windows and door
24/04784/FUL - 20 Ordview Road, Nairn, IV12 5NL - Alterations and extension
24/04830/FUL - Land 270M NE Of Rehiran Farmhouse, Cawdor - Erection of house
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.