Year 3, Week 22
Happy birthday, by-elections, Local Place Plan, Auldearn Community Council, road issues, service 10 bus ...
Happy Birthday Dad!
My apologies that there was no post last week but I was away for a long weekend in Hampshire to celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday.
However I did continue with my council work even while I was there as I had to attend the resumed full council meeting on Monday afternoon, which I did via Teams from a bedroom at my dad’s house while the celebrations continued.
By-Elections
After some councillors resigned in the summer we had two council by-elections on Thursday, 26th September and Sinclair Coghill (independent) and John Edmondson (Lib Dem) were elected for the Cromarty Firth ward and Michael Gregson (Labour) was elected for the Inverness Central ward. Congratulations to all of them.
As they replaced a Labour, Lib Dem and independent member this leaves the political make up of the council largely unchanged.
We have one more by-election to go, on 21st November for the Fort William and Ardnamurchan ward after the resignation of the Lib Dem councillor for that ward.
Nairnshire Local Place Plan
On Thursday, 26th September Nairn Improvement Community Enterprise submitted the finalised version of the Nairnshire Local Place Plan to the Development Plans team on Highland Council. It doesn’t seem to be on their web site yet so I have put a copy online here for you to see.
Auldearn Community Council
I attended a meeting of the council this week along with about fifteen members of the public and they were invited by the chair to take part in a series of friendly and well informed discussions.
The various Battery Energy Storage System applications which I’ve discussed here before and which are upwind of Auldearn were of particular interest. Opdenergy, one of the current round of applicants, did do a presentation in the village in mid-September but the other two, who were due to attend the council meeting, cried off. Hopefully another date can be arranged soon.
The traffic calming through the village was discussed at some length. Although it has reduced speeds there are still issues, especially with the speed cushions. As a result of the meeting officers have agreed to try removing some of the speed cushions temporarily and monitoring speeds pre and post removal.
The council also heard about plans for a Halloween Samhain Gathering in the village on Thursday, 31st October which had been discussed at previous meetings. It’s open to all and you can find a poster with details here.
Road issues
Advanced warning that resurfacing works are taking place on the A96 between Wednesday 16th October and Friday 25th October around the junction with the B9006 to Ardersier and the B9006/B9090 to Cawdor. There will be overnight closures between 7:30pm and 6:30am. As yet it’s unclear what diversion routes will be in place but I fear Cawdor and Croy are going to bear the brunt of this.
The permanent speed restriction order for the proposed A939 40mph limit has now been published and can be inspected at the service point at the Court House (currently open 9:30am to 12:30pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday). Assuming there are no objections it will go ahead from Monday, 4th November.
The U3036 east of Auldearn will be closed beginning 7th October for BT works.
The C1157 at Fornighty will be closed beginning on 7th October for BT works.
Morning service 10 bus to Inverness
I was contacted by a resident this week about this service. The 08:08 from Nairn bus station is no longer stopping at the retail park on the edge of Inverness. This is causing problems for UHI students as the previous 07:32 is now full by the time it gets to Tradespark leaving students either arriving late or having to get driven to Inverness.
I have spoken with council officers who in turn have spoken to Stagecoach and, with effect from 21st October, the bus will again be stopping at the retail park. Apologies that this can’t start sooner but there’s some paperwork which needs completing first.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted:
24/03772/LBC - Land 485M NE Of Daltullich, Dunphail, Forres - Repairs to bridge including rebuilding of parapets and repointing works
24/04032/FUL - Ty Pobydd, Sandown Road, Nairn, IV12 5NW - Erection of dormers and extension
24/03954/FUL - Land 35M South Of Green Easter, Cothill, Nairn - Erection of house (amended design to 22/00631/FUL)
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.