Year 3, Week 42
Delnies, national speed limits, council social media, R100 Evaluation, Auldearn Community Council, road closures ...
Delnies
The development at Delnies is going to be an issue for quite some time yet so I’ve created a page on Delnies with links to all my key posts to date. If you’re new to the blog you might like to visit that page and catch up.
As I promised last week I escalated the issue of how they’re balancing traffic at peak times through the temporary traffic lights to Amey, who are Transport Scotland’s agents for trunk roads in our area, and they tell me they visited and gave advice. By Monday morning it was noticeable that the traffic lights were now manned when we went through, which they weren’t before, and we seemed to spend rather less time in the queue. The same was also true on Tuesday when I went to Inverness and back. So hopefully that will continue at least until they stop operating at peak times.
Also the first Community Liaison Group meeting is being held in just over a week on Tuesday, 4th March so I will be reporting on that in a couple of weeks.
National speed limits
I held this one over from last week as it was already a long post but the Scottish government is currently consulting on a proposal to increase the speed limit for vehicles over 7.5 tonnes on single carriageway roads from 40mph to 50mph (so the same as the rest of the UK and also the A9) and to decrease the speed limit for the rest of us from 60mph to 50mph.
Although I think the first proposal is sensible, it’s certainly reduced accidents and deaths on the A9, the second isn’t in my opinion. I attended two meetings in recent weeks where this was discussed: HITRANS which is the statutory regional transport partnership covering Eilean Siar, Orkney, Highland, Moray and most of the Argyll and Bute area where I was the council’s representative; and the council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Papers were presented to both meetings (latter is here) which recommended that we support the raising of speed limits for vehicles over 7.5 tonnes but oppose the decrease in limits for everyone else. Your representatives at both of those meeting, me included, voted to submit those opinions to the consultation.
Highland Council social media
Like me and many others the council is moving away from using X/Twitter and is now on Bluesky instead. It’s also going to start posting on Threads and it continues to have a presence on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, and YouTube.
R100 Evaluation
I’m passing this on from Cawdor & West Nairnshire CC. The Scottish Government is assessing the success of R100, a government funded programme which is extended broadband access across Scotland. To inform this they are surveying households and organisations who:
are scheduled to receive faster broadband access
have been provided with faster broadband access and have taken up the connection
have been provided with faster broadband access but have not taken up the connection
To determine if your property is impacted by the programme (this is likely to be if you’re in a rural part of the ward) then visit this page to find out and, if it is, please take part in the survey.
Auldearn Community Council
I attended the AGM of this council on Wednesday (and chaired the first part). Items discussed included the proposed visitor levy, traffic calming, and a project “Portrait of Auldearn” which is being undertaken by Helen Wright.
Road closures
Here’s the latest planned BT/Openreach closures. Please note that some closures I’ve reported previously are still to come.
Grant Street in Nairn
Closed beginning on 25th February. Traffic management with signed diversions will be in place and emergency access will be maintained
Drumduan Mill
I’ve spoken before about the road closure of the U2297 road at Drumduan Mill because of damage to the bridge parapet. See map below:
I’m please to report that works at the bridge will begin week commencing 14th April with an estimated completion date of 25th April.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted. Note that the first one isn’t new, this is the one at site 3 on my map posted last August.
25/00154/FUL - Land 330M East Of Grigorhill Cottage, Grigorhill, Nairn - Construction of a 49.9MW battery energy storage facility, battery storage units, ancillary buildings and equipment, access road and associated work
25/00298/FUL - Meikle Geddes Farm, Meikle Geddes, Nairn, IV12 5QY - Erection of a free range egg laying unit and associated infrastructure
25/00299/FUL - 11 Cairn Avenue, Nairn, IV12 4TG - Erection of cabin to from treatment room
25/00403/FUL - 6 Burntisland Street, Nairn, IV12 4PB -Installation of replacement door, windows and rooflights
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.