In the words of country singer Willie Nelson:
“On the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again”
Route 66? No. In this case just a bit more prosaic. Liberal Democrat MP Danny Alexander and 5 councillors took time out on Friday 27th June to press again the case for the Trunk Link Route Inverness By-pass — pressure which is required as the Scottish Government moves towards its day of decision in August.
It was encouraging to see councillors from the five wards most affected (Hamish Wood: Aird and Loch Ness; Alex Graham: Inverness West; Thomas Prag: Inverness South; David Henderson: Inverness Ness-side, Janet Campbell: Inverness Central) turn out for this. The TLR will pass through three of their wards (South, Ness Side and West) and have a major effect on life in the others.
Danny Alexander has been absolutely solid in his support for the TLR, and deserves credit for the time he has given to it.
The message for Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson, who refused when he was in town this week to confirm a key SNP election pledge to fund the TLR project before 2012, could have come from another Willie Nelson song:
“If you’ve got the money, we’ll take the TLR”.
A slightly subdued full Council meeting, held against a background of intense political activity as the various party groups discussed setting up a new administration to replace the Independent/SNP arrangement that fell a week previous. All SNP office bearers, including the Provost of Inverness, formally resigned from the administration in the morning.
The movement of councillors, mainly Independents, towards Non-aligned also began to gather pace.
Notable items on this day:
- Single Outcome Agreement which is to be submitted to the Scottish Government by the end of June 2008 was approved;
- An indicative capital programme was approved which will now go to the various service committees in the August cycle of meetings;
- As part of a process for monitoring attendance by members appointed to outside bodies, a list of these appointments will be placed on the Council website;
- Support was given to a proposal for a Polish consulate in Inverness
A paper on Play Development attracted significant member comment comment, including claims by Inverness West representative Alex Graham and others that play areas had suffered serious neglect for a long period.
The SNP group on Highland Council have left the Administration set up just one year ago with Independent councillors. They quit on Wednesday (June 18th) leaving the Independents, who currently number 33 out of 80 councillors, alone in the administration.
Black Isle Independent councillor Isobel McCallum has resigned as Vice-Chair of the Planning, Environment and Development committee after questioning whether SNP member Pauline Munro (Inverness West) should be the Council’s agriculture spokesperson.
Indicative of the stresses of recent events, doubts have emerged over who leads the Independent group, with press reports suggesting that both Cllr McCallum and Convenor Cllr Sandy Park made claims to the leadership.
Intensive discussions with the various groups and between them will occur in the next few days, but the Council meeting scheduled for Thursday 26th June will be held as planned.
Posted: 21 June 2008
“The Wizard of Oz”
23rd and 24th June at 8.00pm
At the Empire Theatre in Eden Court
Charleston Academy are returning to Eden Court, this time with the musical Wizard of Oz based on L. Frank Baum’s children’s novel. It tells the story of a resourceful American girl who is snatched up by a Kansas tornado and deposited in a fantastic land of witches, a talking scarecrow, a tin man, a cowardly lion and more. She find that what she was looking for was in her own backyard all the time, reminding us all that “There’s no place like home”.
Seat prices £12.00
Under 18s £8.00
Family £32.00
On a wet Sunday much of Inverness was without water for much of the day, as a supply interruption affected most of the city of Inverness. It was all a bit worrying.
Areas affected included almost the whole of Inverness West ward — except Scorguie and some small areas such as Clachnaharry village, the Leachkin and the Dunain area — as well as Dalneigh, the town centre, the Crown area, Longman industrial estate, and Lochardil. Postcodes IV2 and IV3 were affected, with press reports (P&J) putting the number affected at 19,000.
This was the third time in just over three years that Kinmylies had experienced an outage. Previous occasions were in January 2005, with Scorguie also affected, and November 2006 when 500 homes in Kinmylies were cut off.
Alex Graham has asked Scottish Water for a report on what caused Sunday’s interruption and what steps are being taken to prevent a recurrence, and he will also be discussing the matter with Highland Council.
Footnote: Monday 16th June Scottish Water website notes “reports of loss water supply and low pressure from the IV12 postcode area of Nairn.” Could be spreading!
Dropped into Northern Meeting Park tonight (Tuesday 3rd June) on the way home and watched Northern Cricket Club practising — along with local schools they are the main users, and have been there for many years.
Every time I visit I am greatly impressed by the size of the Park, which comprises about four acres of green space right in the town centre, and also growing more aware of the users and its importance to the community. The fact that it is being considered for building, even for a Museum and Art Gallery, is a scandal.
Apart from cricket, the three local schools who lack playing fields — St. Joseph’s, Bishop Eden, and Central — all use it during the week and for their sports days. It is also used for the Marymas fair and maybe the Tattoo could return there.
It has been atrociously maintained by Highland Council with only minimal maintenance, and suffers periodic vandalism from intruders after hours.
Saving it from being destroyed for a Museum we don’t actually need is essential, and I was glad to see Fields in Trust (formerly National Playing Fields Association) members in action in Eastgate recently collecting signatures for a petition against building on the Park
The Highland Council has become the first public body in Scotland to have its Gaelic Language Plan formally approved by Bòrd na Gàidhlig. Intended to boost the status and use of the language, it will be implemented across the Council area between now and 2011.
The Plan includes:
- Playing a leading role in the development of pre-school, primary and secondary Gaelic education.
- Allowing greater public access to Council services in Gaelic.
- Raising the profile of the language by using it alongside English on signage and literature.
- Gaelic tuition opportunities for Council employees.
- Assessing the impact on Gaelic of all new developments within the Council’s sphere of influence.
Gaelic Committee Chairman Councillor Hamish Fraser said the Plan will focus the Council’s commitment to Gaelic and oversee policy and planning for Gaelic throughout all Council services.