Year 4, Week 8
Council business, short term let control areas, postal deliveries, bus services, A96 overnight closures ...
Council business
As the result of the resignation of Cllr Derek Louden due to ill health I have now been appointed by the council as chair of the Pension Committee and, more significantly, the Corporate Resources Committee.
The latter is one of the six strategic committees on Highland Council and covers everything on the bottom left side of the management chart above. As a result I am now part of the Senior Leadership Group - the equivalent of the Cabinet in Westminster terms.
This is a big responsibility and is going to take up a lot of my time so I will be stepping back from some of my other roles at council but I do intend continuing to chair the South Planning Applications Committee.
None of this means that I won’t continue to be working hard as your ward councillor of course and my in box bears witness to the many and varied issues you contact me about.
Short Term Let Control Areas
There was a flurry of press stories this week about proposals to introduce a Short Term Let Control Area across the whole of Highland which caused some concern for local businesses, especially in Nairn.
To be clear there are two separate issues here. Firstly all premises across Highland offering accommodation in the form of short term lets (STLs) - so mainly bed and breakfast and self catering properties - must now have an STL licence and the council and its Licensing Committee, on which I used to sit, has spent many hours processing STL licence applications with over 7,000 now being processed … with all but a literal handful being approved.
STL licences are designed to ensure that premises are safe for people to stay in and also that neighbouring premises are not overly disturbed, which is done through the imposition of licence conditions.
This latter point is important as STL owners can be penalised or even lose their licence if they fail to comply with the conditions. So, for example, a standard condition (although it can be varied) is that an outside hot tub - a common source of concern for neighbours - cannot be used after 10pm and, if it is and this is reported to the council then the council can take action to police this, and that may include the premises losing its licence.
However alongside STL licences is the concept of an STL Control Area. In such an area any new premises wanting to get an STL licence must first get planning permission to operate as an STL. In Badenoch and Strathspey ward, where this has been operating for some time, by default only premises with four or more bedrooms can get planning permission.
The result of this is that in places like Aviemore, where previously whenever a new development of small houses with one to three bedrooms was built they were all snapped up by landlords to use as STL premises, local residents who are looking for a first home are now finding premises available to buy.
So STL Control Areas do have their uses however they are currently only needed is some places - and sometimes only certain areas in a ward - and so the proposal we agreed at council this week was not for an STL Control Area across Highland but that they could be brought in by ward/area where the majority of members in the ward/area have voted for it.
In Nairnshire we see no need for a STL Control Area at this time.
Postal deliveries
You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I posted about the issue of unreliable postal deliveries in some areas of the ward and I asked our MP, Graham Leadbitter, if he could help with this. He now reports:
I was recently made aware of issues with mail deliveries in the Cawdor area and wider Nairnshire.
Last week I held an urgent meeting with Royal Mail and was pleased to welcome their acknowledgement of the concerns and frustrations of the local community and the apology they gave for the poor service that has been experienced by locals.
They have given a very strong commitment to working to resolve these issues over the next six to eight weeks, and my office and I will do what we can to support them and the community going forward.
Bus services
I have had various discussions with residents this week about bus changes which are coming up.
As I’ve mentioned previously Stagecoach are dropping the service 11 bus into Nairn starting on Monday, 7th July and this would mean there was no bus service down Lochloy Road into Montgomerie Drive.
Officers have now agreed that from 7th July the 251 Nairn Town service will include Lochloy Road, Montgomerie Drive, and Lawrie Drive in its circuit of Nairn so residents there will have a way of getting to most parts of town including Sainsburys or the hospital. They can also connect with services on to the airport and Inverness at the bus station. I should note however that it only does a limited number of circuits each day as it’s also used as a school bus, and it doesn’t yet run at the weekend. I will post the precise timetable here when I have it.
That’s the relatively good news. The bad is that at the same time the 251 service will no longer be servicing Boath Park because of the difficulties its had getting around parked cars. Both Cllr Jarvie and I are exploring what, if anything, can be done about the parked car issue in the longer term but for now I'm afraid residents are either going to have to walk to the Sainsburys stop or rely on Wheels in Nairnshire.
A96 issues
Overnight closures near airport
Apologies for the late notice but I have only had word this week that overnight re-surfacing improvements on the A96 near Inverness Airport are taking place from this Sunday, 29th June to Saturday, 12th July with overnight closures between 7:30pm and 6:30am. There will be no overnight work on Friday, 4th July and Saturday, 5th July.
Westbound traffic is going to be diverted (again!) south on the A939 Grantown Road and then down the B9101 and onto the B9090 through Cawdor and Clephanton, past Croy on the B9091, and then onwards onto the B9006 all the way to the A9 at Inshes. Eastbound traffic will be sent down the same route in reverse.
I’m sure it will be obvious to you that you do not need to go that way and there are alternative local routes which will be significantly shorter and, probably, rather quicker.
Raigmore roundabout
Meanwhile … while Amey have the A96 closed BEAR Scotland are starting overnight ground investigation works on the A96/A9 Raigmore roundabout in Inverness from this Monday, 30th June through to Friday, 4th July, subject to weather conditions.
To ensure the safety of workers and road users single lane closures will be in place on the roundabout as well as the immediate approaches and exits. To minimise delays and disruption for road users, lane closures will be limited to night time off-peak periods between the hours of 7pm and 6am. No restrictions will be in place during the day.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted.
25/02154/PIP - Drumblair, Lochloy Road, Nairn, IV12 5LF - Formation of 3 house plots
25/02272/FUL - The Firs, Easter Galcantray, Cawdor, Nairn, IV12 5XS - Alterations and extension
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.