Year 2, Week 14

A96 resurfacing, a new footpath, council tax, Nairn Highland Games

A96 Resurfacing

At the end of my post last week I laid out the plans for the resurfacing of the A96 west of Nairn. They’d arrived in my mailbox only a couple of hours earlier so I’d not had time to consider them in detail or discuss them with anyone but I wanted to get them out to the public as quickly as possible.

Unsurprisingly the plans have provoked a lot of response. The proposal for a full closure of the A96 on two nights and, especially, to close it for the whole of the English bank holiday weekend is particularly contentious. The route, diverting all traffic down the Grantown Road and then through Cawdor and Clephanton back ro the A96 and the same in reverse has all sorts of issues for communities along the route, and also in Auldearn for eastbound traffic.

I am currently in discussions with Amey, council officers, your other local councillors, and members of the public as to how we can mitigate this.

Where we are currently is that Highland Council has told Amey it does not support the proposed diversion until Amey demonstrate that they have put measures in place to mitigate the impact of any diversion route on communities and have also mitigated the impact of physical obstacles or traffic calming on the route.

Cawdor & West Nairnshire Community Council meet on Monday night where I expect this to be a hot topic and I will be meeting with the police and local councillors on Tuesday to discuss this further.

New footpath

One of the other items that was discussed and agreed at Nairnshire Area Committee but which I didn’t have room to mention last week was the Nairn Harbour Active Travel Footpath Link.

Nairn Access Panel has identified a need to develop a footpath between the West Beach promenade footpath, from a point west of the Sundancer Restaurant, to improve inclusive access and active travel links to the harbour and pier.

As you can see from the diagram it will go behind the Sundancer and then follow the coast north east passing behind the harbourmaster’s office. It will then use the edge of the harbour car park to get to the west pier wall.

The path, approximately 250m long by 2.5m wide, is to be made from tarmac with edging boards. Parking bays on the north edge of the Harbour Car Park are to be removed and setback to allow a new thermoplastic green coloured footway, approximately 50m long by 2.5m wide, to be applied along the car park’s northern boundary. There will be a short footpath spur connecting to Harbour Street adjacent to the front entrance of the Sundancer Restaurant, that will also be constructed of tarmac. New benches, picnic tables, cycle storage and centralised hard standing area to accommodate an information board are included.

The estimated cost of the development is £170,000 and part funding has been secured by the Access Panel through “Paths for All” and the Highland Council Active Travel Team are providing a supporting role to the project with additional funding coming through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Council tax - bands E to H

Council tax is set by all councils by agreeing a rate for band D properties and then the rate for properties in other bands is calculated by applying nationally fixed multipliers to that rate as illustrated in the table on this page. So, for example, if council tax on a band D property is set by the council to £1,000 then it will currently be £670 for a band A property through to £2,450 for a band H property.

These multipliers were last change in 2017, when the multipliers for bands E to H were increased.

Now the Scottish Government and COSLA would like to invite you to respond to their consultation on revising the multipliers for properties in bands E to H. You have until 20th September to do so.

Nairn Highland Games

As I’m sure you know the Games is next Saturday and, all being well, I will be helping with the SNP stall for quite a lot of the day if you would like a chat about any issue.