Year 3, Week 36

Bin collections, Nairn Academy, Delivery Plan, budget and 20mph consultations ...

Bin collections

As I’m sure you’re all too aware bin collections over the holiday break have been poor. In particular the moving back to the previous Saturday for the two Wednesday collections did not work well through a combination of lorries breaking down and problems getting enough staff willing to do overtime and that’s caused knock on effects for collections on other days. They’ve been struggling to catch up ever since and problems still remain as they have been slowed down by the cold weather.

I've spoken to officers about this and I strongly suspect they will do looking at a different plan next December. In the meantime their advice is to leave your bins out until they’re collected but do get in touch if things are particularly bad where you stay and I can see what I can find out.

Nairn Academy

I have had an update from the head teacher, Julie Macdonald, regarding recruitment and supply arrangements for this term. New staff were appointed over Christmas and some started this week with more starting next. They’re continuing to interview to fill some places but in the meantime they have secured contracts for three supply staff through to Easter to fill in the gaps.

The bottom line is that all of this should now allow the school to run a full timetable for all year groups this term, so that’s good news.

As you’ll know if you’re a parent or carer the Parent Council meet this Thursday and I’m planning to attend.

Council Delivery Plan

The council has a Delivery Plan to deliver savings and investment across Highland over the next three years and there’s a series of videos now online looking at aspects of this.

Here’s the second, on “income generation” which talks about things like council tax on second homes, the housing challenge, projects like The Storr Project on Skye, the level of fees and charges, the Visitor Levy, and Inverness Castle.

Budget consultation

We’re now in the process of agreeing our proposals for the 2025/26 budget so I’ve got lots of extra meetings in my diary. The council is also running a consultation again and you can find details here about the consultation and how you can take part.

20mph consultation

We are now in the final phase of the roll out of 20mph speed limits which is a 5 week statutory consultation on making permanent the Traffic Regulation Order for the Highland-wide 20mph scheme. You can find details here including how to comment.

It’s interesting that I’ve had a lot more people asking me to get them 20mph speed limits in their roads elsewhere in the ward outwith Nairn and Auldearn than I have people complaining about the new limit. It’s not perfect - some people will always speed whatever the limit is - but I’ve noticed it has slowed people down on roads I use.

Planning applications

No new applications were logged since I last posted.