Week 11
Holidays, the A96, Opportunity Cromarty Firth, and more besides ...
It being July we are, in theory, in recess so there’s no council meetings and less going on. As I’ve had several meetings and my mailbox remains busy this is not entirely true but we did at least manage a few days away in the campervan of which the high spot was possibly on north Skye watching the sun setting over the Outer Hebrides while dolphins hunted for fish in the sea below us.
So apologies for the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks but here’s a long one.
Reporting problems
Much as I like helping people the best route if you do have an issue you want Highland Council to help you with is for you to report it directly to Highland Council rather than playing chinese whispers through me. This is especially true if it’s urgent as I may be away from my email for some days if I’m on holiday.
To do this on the Highland Council home page, click on the blue "Report a problem !" button and it will take you to a page where you can pick the subject you're complaining about.
Then, if you don't get a response fairly swiftly, get back to me and I'll chase them up.
A96 Upgrade
A week or so ago the Press & Journal ran a story about potential funding problems with upgrading the A96 and the Nairn bypass which the usual suspects jumped on.
My response is that in these difficult financial times across the UK I don't think it will come as any surprise to anyone that budgets are tight. That is why I and my colleagues across the council chamber agreed at the last council meeting to press Scottish Government ministers to make the right decision on the bypass. We will continue to do so until we get the result we need for Nairn.
Opportunity Cromarty Firth
You’ll probably be aware by now that there’s a bid to get a “green” freeport hereabouts and that project is called Opportunity Cromarty Firth.
The proposal is for the port to be a hub for both offshore wind farm generation and also the production of hydrogen. (This would be “green” hydrogen, produced from water, as opposed to the rather less environmentally friendly “blue” hydrogen which is produced from hydrocarbons and produces CO2 as a side effect which has to be captured and stored forever.)
Having being briefed on this (you can watch the whole briefing online here) what is being proposed I think this is an unfortunate name and a better, if less catchy, name would have been Opportunity Inner Moray Firth as the actual proposal and its effects covers a much wider area.
The first thing to be aware of is that only some fairly small areas will actually be what you might think of a freeport - duty free areas where no import or export taxes are paid - which are known as “tax sites”. Three areas will have this designation:
Invergordon – which includes the port, piers and other industrial/employment areas
Nigg and Pitcalzean
Inverness – comprising Port of Inverness, the former Longman Landfill and Inverness Campus
Here’s a map of the whole area showing those three sites as black dots:
So, as you can see, it’s not just Cromarty Firth. More significantly for Nairn a far wider area on both sides of the Inner Moray Firth and including Nairn will be within the wider freeport area (shown by the black line).
You can see that more clearly if I zoom in on that area:
Non-domestic rates, retained by Highland Council from the freeport, can be reinvested in the whole area, including Nairn, for skills, infrastructure, and decarbonisation.
This was all debated at the last full Highland Council meeting on 30th June and you can see that debate online (start at item 14).
One issue that was raised there (start at 4:34:00) was ship to ship transfers, something against which Nairn vigorously opposed when it was last proposed, so that’s not been forgotten.
More funding opportunities
I am trying to alert you to funding opportunities for organisations you may be involved with as they arise and we have one this week. Age UK has opened for the Encouraging and Supporting Grassroots Activity Fund to address gaps in support for people with lived experience of dementia in a local area with awards between £5,000 and £20,000 over a twelve month period.
Ward Discretionary Fund
One of the basic funding opportunities is the Ward Discretionary Fund. This is funded by Highland Council itself and can give small grants to organisations in the ward so it’s well worth applying to if you need some cash for a project that is of benefit to the ward.
The decisions on whether the applicant gets the money is made by an officer, the Ward Manager, under delegated powers and not by ward councillors. This is for practical reasons: if councillors were to decide it then it would have to be at an area committee meeting and they’re held relatively infrequently, so it’s delegated to officers so it can be done speedily. The Ward Manager does consult with councillors but the decision is made by the officer.
The other thing to bear in mind is that the total amount of money available for this financial year is only £16,000 for Nairnshire and that spreads pretty thinly, so only small grants can be given. Requests for larger amounts can be, and have been, knocked back. It’s also not intended for repeated grants from the same organisation so if you’re looking for ongoing funding you need to think about other options.
For more information, and how to apply, visit this page.