Changes to bus services
As I’ve discussed here before Stagecoach have announced that they are making several changes to bus services in the Nairn area starting this Monday, 7th July.
The most significant is that the daytime service 11 between Inverness and Ardersier will be increased from hourly to half-hourly … but the extensions to Nairn will be reduced to only four per day. Also, there will be no service down Lochloy Road and around Montgomerie Drive and Lawrie Drive.
Highland Council runs its own bus services too now and so, to provide some compensation for this loss, the service 251 Nairn Town bus will now go down Lochloy Road and around Montgomerie Drive and Lawrie Drive as well as going into Tradespark.
The new timetable is shown below (apologies that this is an image, for a downloadable text version go here).
Note that it only does four or five loops around the town and there is no Saturday service so it is still a reduction on what we had before.
Note also that it will no longer be visiting Boath Park. This has been removed from the route because the bus has had difficulties getting through the estate because of the number of parked cars, so residents staying there will have to walk to Sainsburys if they are able.
However there is an alternative, both for Boath Park residents and for anyone for whom the 251 service doesn’t work for whatever reason, and that is Wheels in Nairnshire. It was originally set up to get people to medical appointments in Nairn but its scope is now far wider and they can take you as far as Raigmore if needed.
Finally, in terms of services beyond Nairn, we are retaining the hourly service 10 (Aberdeen to Inverness, via Auldearn and Nairn) but we are losing the service 12 which ran from Elgin to Inverness, via Nairn. To compensate Stagecoach’s M96 (Aberdeen to Inverness limited stop) will be enhanced so that a half-hourly service between Nairn and Inverness remains. The M96 will also serve Inverness Airport railway station as a park & ride hub, where passengers from/to Culloden will be able to interchange with service 11.
Electrical and electronic re-use
The council has launched a new facility at the Nairn Household Waste Recycling Centre, enabling you to donate working electrical and electronic items for reuse.
This includes old, unused, or unwanted items such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, toasters, air fryers, and TVs, provided they are still in good working order. You can find full details in this news release.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted.
25/02081/FUL - 1 Braid Road, Nairn - Conversion of two garages to form sales offices and associated works including temporary connecting road, car parking and landscaping
25/02180/PIP - Land 90M East Of Easter Galcantray Croft, Cawdor - Erection of dwelling
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.