Year 2, Week 51
Council leadership, Fishertown, Common Good Engagement Group, beach erosion
Council leadership team
The council is currently in the process of re-structuring its leadership team. This was discussed at our last council meeting as a confidential item but it’s now in the public domain so I can talk about it here.
Essentially the old structure was a Chief Executive, with a Deputy Chief Executive working alongside them, and then seven Executive Chief Officers for the various services.
This will now be replaced by a Chief Executive and just three Assistant Chief Executives. This is a much leaner structure, and saves the council £310,000 a year in staffing costs, although it does put more responsibility on the new ACEs.
I was involved in the interview process for the ACEs on Friday and the council is expecting to announce the successful candidates some time this week.
Windows and solar panels in Fishertown
Historically fitting more efficient windows or solar panels to your house if you lived in a conservation area like Fishertown in Nairn needed planning permission, which was often difficult to get, and I had a query about this from a resident recently.
As a result I discovered that things are about to change. A Statutory Instrument on permitted development was laid in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday, 28th March. Subject to parliamentary scrutiny, the changes are expected to come into effect on Friday, 24th May.
This was specifically aimed at making it easier for people to do things to help tackle climate change. There's a press release here but the key paragraph is this:
People who live in conservation areas [will] be able to more easily alter or replace their windows to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. They will also be able to install solar panels on certain parts of their property without a planning application for the first time.
So, unless that Statutory Instrument fails to pass unchanged then after 24th May it will be much easier to replace your windows or install solar panels and you probably won't need planning permission at all. Having said that I would suggest that you contact Highland Council planning before commencing work just to be sure that what you’re proposing is suitable.
Common Good Engagement Group
The Group met for the first time this week. If you’re new to Nairn I wrote a post on the Common Good before I was elected which will fill you in on the background. Although Highland Council ultimately makes the decisions about the Common Good, and that’s mainly delegated to your four ward councillors, we’re hoping that this group will help get views from the community in a more structured manner.
Those also need to be people who really understand what the Common Good is and how it can, and can’t be used, so the first meeting was largely training by officers although we did also have a briefing on current management issues.
Erosion on Central Beach
I recently took a walk with members of Nairn West & Suburban Council led by Community Councillor Kristin Duncan. Kristin was highlighting the issue that the rock armour which protects the section of the Links from the only significant groyne to the Leisure Centre car park has been significantly disturbed by the winter storm which also did damage to the harbour.
Unless you actually see this from the beach side you're not really aware of how bad it is but we have a real problem in that the damage means that further storms are now likely to erode the ground under the tarmacked path along the front and result in its eventual loss.
We will be discussing this issue at our next ward business meeting as something really needs to be done before next winter. And continuing from my last item both the Links and Central Beach are assets of the Common Good so we may well want to discuss this at a future Common Good Engagement Group meeting.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted:
24/00963/FUL - Garage, Forres Road, Nairn, IV12 5QD - Siting of container and bagging plant with zappshelter
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.