Year 2, Week 4
Using Common Good assets, Councillors’ expenses, Common Good Fund Project Officer, beach disabled access ...
Using Common Good assets for public events
This has now bubbled up on two different Facebook groups where a resident claimed that Highland Council were preventing them from using the bandstand on The Links on Games Day. It’s also been raised at Nairn West & Suburban Community Council so let me talk briefly about the issues in general.
The bandstand is a Common Good asset and we operate the same policy for any Common Good asset, including the grass on The Links, which is that if you are holding an event there then you’re expected to get permission, you may have to pay a fee, and you must have third party liability insurance. In this case the resident didn’t want to do that.
So why these steps when they’re “our” assets?
Well, firstly, managing the Common Good assets has costs - like mowing the grass and repairing and painting the bandstand - so it makes sense to get commercial users to pay, especially if they’re coming in from outwith Nairn. Note however that I said “may” pay above as the officers who manage the Common Good for us do have the discretion to waive the fee - which they do after consulting with councillors. So, for example, the last carol concert at the bandstand did not have to pay a fee.
The second issue is third party insurance. So if someone is injured while using a Common Good asset and we’ve not maintained it properly then the Common Good, or in practice, the Common Good’s insurers, are responsible for those costs. However if an organisation is using the asset for an activity then that activity may also result in an injury, and the organisation would be liable, not the Common Good, so it makes sense that we ensure that every organisation using a Common Good asset has third party insurance, even if the fee is waived.
Most of the time this isn’t a problem as typically organisations have such cover. Community Councils do for example, as do political parties and most charities and churches, and of course all businesses do. Where it gets difficult is if individuals want to use Common Good assets: then they may need to purchase event insurance if they’re not covered by any other suitable policy. This is certainly possible, but does cost. I did a very quick Google search yesterday and got a quote of about £65 for cover for an event from the first people I tried, so I’d expect one could do better than that if you shopped around.
Now at this point you may be saying to yourself: well, where does that leave me as an individual if I accidentally cause a loss or injury while sitting on The Links? The simple answer is that you would potentially be liable, as you would anywhere, but most people are already covered against this on their house insurance. That typically gives cover of up to £2,000,000 for third party claims against any member of your household (including your dogs by the way).
Anyway, going back to the start of this on Games day a local organisation, with insurance, has now expressed an interest in using the bandstand so you can expect to find something happening there.
Councillors’ expenses
All Scottish councils have to publish the salaries and expenses of their councillors each financial year and Highland Council is no exception so they’re now available online.
Some things to note when reading them. Firstly, as has been pointed out in the local press, expenses have risen considerably compared to 2021/22. This is largely because we’ve come out of Covid so councillors are now meeting in person a lot of the time rather than video conferencing and also, in some cases, travelling to meetings elsewhere in the country with all the travel, accommodation, and food costs associated with that.
You’ll also notice considerable variation in expenses claimed. Two factors come into play here. Firstly the council covers a vast area, so some councillors face a very long drive from places like Skye and Lochinver, sometimes staying overnight in Inverness before morning meetings so that they can be there on time. Secondly some councillors choose, for whatever reason, not to claim some or all of their expenses.
I’ve extracted the entries for your four ward councillors which you can see below:
Apologies that this is an image so may be hard to see on mobile devices and will be unreadable if you’re blind or partially sighted so here’s a very brief summary of each of our salaries and expenses:
Laurie Fraser - £22,101,99 plus £273.50
Micheal Green - £19,241.70 plus £293.50
Barbara Jarvie - £17,677.07 plus £1,963.79
Paul Oldham - £17,677.07 plus £1,602.40
Common Good Fund Project Officer
Highland Council is looking to recruit a Common Good Fund project officer which is a job which would be ideal for someone who stays in Nairn. You can find details online here.
The job is to support the delivery of Nairn Common Good Fund projects to meet agreed objectives and targets. The post will assist the Ward Manager in the overall management of project delivery, as well as supporting around day to day management of common good assets (so, for example, collecting fees and checking insurance for organisations using those assets, as discussed above).
This will be a fixed term post for two years in the first instance working 17.5 hours a week at a salary of £17,426 - £18,982 p.a.
Beach disabled access
You may remember that January’s Area Committee agreed to give £28,666 of community regeneration funding to the Nairn Access Panel, who had plans to make the beach more accessible for those with disabilities. The ramp has now been constructed but not, it seems, to the agreed specification so remedial works are going to be needed. That’s being negotiated with the contractor now.