Year 2, Week 45
Nairn bypass, full council, the Splash Pad, Notice of Amendment (Planning) ...
A96 Nairn bypass
We had some good news this week. The 'Made Orders' for the A96 duelling from Inverness to Nairn, including the bypass, were finally published on Tuesday. This is a major step forward as it means that they can now start purchasing the land and Transport Scotland can begin the work to determine the most suitable procurement option for taking the scheme forward.
STV News ran the story on their 6pm news programme and did a vox pop in Nairn High Street as well as interviewing Lucy Harding from Nairn BID and me. You can watch the whole piece on YouTube, including my 15 seconds of fame.
This has all taken a long time but we are talking about compulsory purchase of land here and that's a step which should never be undertaken lightly and without due process being followed.
Anyway we are getting nearer to getting our bypass, and that's good news.
Full council
We had a meeting of full council this week which was originally in the diary for Thursday but, despite starting an hour early the first day, it actually finished at mid-afternoon on Friday.
It was a long, hard couple of days and we covered a lot of ground. Webcasts of both days are available here and the agenda and public papers can be found here.
Among the issues we discussed were how officers are going to implement the budget we agreed at our last meeting (item 12), how the council performed against its targets (item 16), our strategy for borrowing (item 18), the council’s future strategy for its use of data (item 15), funding for various capital items like the Corran Ferry and other roads projects (item 13), and the Highland Outcome Improvement Plan which aims to reduce inequalities in Highland (item 11).
At the end of the second day we discussed various motions including one relating to tourist tax on motorhomes and one about the situation in Gaza which we passed calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
As ever if you have concerns or questions on any of these items don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Splash Pad funding
There was a flurry of comments on social media this week about the minutes of last week’s Nairnshire Area Committee and a bullet point in the minutes which said:
• the invitation to pay scheme at the Splash Pad was welcomed but the CCTV in the area needed to be updated;
Various people, including Team Hamish, pointed out that when the Splash Pad was being planned the then Area Committee agreed that the Common Good would be responsible for maintenance of the Splash Pad. When I queried this with officers they reminded me that the recommendation was for the ability to donate towards the maintenance of the Links in general, not the Splash Pad, and so at my instigation we took an amendment to full council this week to amend the minutes to more correctly read:
• the invitation to pay scheme for the NCGF Links amenity facilities was welcomed but the CCTV in the area needed to be updated;
I will ensure that if a donation scheme is introduced it won’t be located next to the Splash Pad.
Notice of Amendment (Planning)
I’ve briefly mentioned this before but the planning application for a Battery Electric Storage System on designated open space in Inverness by a company connected to Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC was re-considered at full council on Thursday. You can watch my speech here if you’re interested along with the rest of the debate.
The application was recommended for refusal by officers and we voted by 30 to 23 with 3 abstentions to do so.
Yet again this has resulted in a lot of press, both local and national, where I’m repeatedly named, along with a flurry of social media posts. Thus are the joys of being a politician.
I hope that the club do find a suitable site for a BESS scheme which is acceptable on planning grounds but this one wasn't it and the club would have known that if they’d taken pre-application advice, which they chose not to do.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted:
24/00622/FUL - 47A Park Street, Fisher Town, Nairn, IV12 4PP - Erection of extension and replacement front door
24/00778/FUL - Achnamara, 1 Duncan Drive, Nairn, IV12 4SQ - Erection of extension
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.