Thursday, February 15, 2018

Budget passed including car parking charges - see what Nairn's four councillors had to say in Highland Council's own video

The Highland Council Budget has been passed including car parking charges for Nairn. This link will take you to the point that Liz MacDonald starts to speak about Parking and other issues. She is followed by Tom Heggie and a  bit later on in the video at 2.20.30 you get Laurie Fraser and Peter Saggers. The budget was passed however and no doubt the three councillors who voted for it are pining their hopes on the promise of further consultation where perhaps something can be done, those at the meeting on Tuesday night in the legion were very cynical about consultation after the event however.

Are we stuffed or is there still room for manoeuvre?  Anyway, we hear that Liz voted against the budget and Nairn's three other councillors voted for it.  See for yourselves below, the start button in the centre can be a bit hard to see but it is there.

Update: Here at the Gurn we think the day's events were summed up well by this Inverness based journalist. 

29 comments:

Steam rollered said...

Three of our councillors helped open the stable door.


As for further consultation we've had none so far so why should we hold out for any post the event?


A sad day for Nairn made even worse by the position taken up by the majority of our councillors who seem to think fighting for our town means a few token words in the council chamber. Not even a motion put forward by any of them to try and change matters.

I hope they enjoy their pay cheques this month

Rita Meter Maid said...

Those three Councillors should hang their heads in shame. Their credibility is shot to pieces.

Hypocritical posturing to say they opposed parking charges (as they all did at the public meeting in Nairn) but then to vote for the budget that imposes them.

Pathetic ineptitude and cowardice to not even table an amendment. Consultation after the event is a hollow gesture that means nothing.

The Gurn's link to the comments by that journalist is spot on. She's an independent observer and she got it absolutely right.

Anonymous said...

We seem to be getting very hung up on a single issue. This budget will have been a give and take between all councillors. I would like to hear what was traded/saved before hanging them out to dry.

pants on fire said...

Three of our councillors agreed with the huge majority at this meeting that parking charges should be opposed but then voted for them two days later.

They will never be trusted by Nairnites ever again. The only course of action left open to them is to resign, they won't of course, whilst that nice salary is there to be had.

I wonder if any of them would like to explain of what use they are to us now as councillors? Maybe as they're so keen on parking charges Highland Council could issues them with a uniform and a wad of tickets and they could become traffic wardens

Graisg said...

@pants on fire, they obviously feel they can still have an impact in stopping all or some of this or mitigating it somehow - but it is hard to see how you can do that by voting for it. I hope there is something they can do otherwise what they did amounts to madness.

Anonymous said...

What now for our three councillors, thirty pieces of silver in the form of their salary at the end of the month?

What a mess Nairn is in politically. Although Cllr MacDonald voted against the parking charges she still faces the controversy of being a land owner and over a hundred houses being built on it at Lochloy.

I would suggest all of our councillors step down and we hold new elections as I for one wouldn't have confidence in any of them, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Anonymous said...

In the video it's suggested that this should be a resignation matter for our councillors. Now for different reasons I'd support that motion. I cannot see how Nairnites can have any faith in our councillors and despite her stance over parking charges I'd include Cllr MacDonald as she cannot fully carry out her role for planning reasons.

Perhaps the Gurn could hold one of it's very unscientific polls. I think most people in Nairn would now like to see new councillors in place

Anonymous said...

I would be very much obliged if you could place this announcement in your obituary section, thank you.

NAIRN it is with great sadness that the town of Nairn has suddenly passed away on the 15th of February 2018, a friend to many & will be very sadly missed,we would not like to thank Laurie Fraser, Tom Heggie,& Peter Saggers, could all donations be made please to The Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road,Inverness, further details will be announced later. RIP

Anonymous said...

There were two parking attendants strolling along Nairn High Street this lunchtime. Coincidence or Highland Council showing us who's in charge?

Anonymous said...

@Anon 7:30

'I would like to hear what was traded/saved before hanging them out to dry'.

If you care to listen to the budget meeting held yesterday (it's available on the HC website) the suggestion is that there was no room for manoeuvre so there was no horse trading before the event. The budget just seems to have been accepted by the majority. Cllr Laird put forward an amendment asking for more time but this was voted down.

We also had the Scottish Greens gaining more monies for local councils by doing a deal with the SNP in order to get their budget through.

Had all of our councillors in Nairn not voted for the budget they might not have changed anything at the end of the day but at least they would have shown their support for Nairn and us the residents. As it stands four of them stated at the meeting at the Legion on Tuesday evening that they were against parking charges but only one Cllr MacDonald actually took any action to support her stance, the other three just rolled over.

They hung themselves out to dry. No one in the town would ever trust them again, say one thing and then do the exact opposite.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 7:30

'I would like to hear what was traded/saved before hanging them out to dry'.

If you care to listen to the budget meeting held yesterday (it's available on the HC website) the suggestion is that there was no room for manoeuvre so there was no horse trading before the event. The budget just seems to have been accepted by the majority. Cllr Laird put forward an amendment asking for more time but this was voted down.

We also had the Scottish Greens gaining more monies for local councils by doing a deal with the SNP in order to get their budget through.

Had all of our councillors in Nairn not voted for the budget they might not have changed anything at the end of the day but at least they would have shown their support for Nairn and us the residents. As it stands four of them stated at the meeting at the Legion on Tuesday evening that they were against parking charges but only one Cllr MacDonald actually took any action to support her stance, the other three just rolled over.

They hung themselves out to dry.

Grand Wizard said...

Whilst I enjoy a good lynch mob as much as the next guy, on this topic I am prepared to give the 4 musketeers the benefit of the doubt that the 'consultation' will be able to head off the best laid plans of HC at the (by)pass.
All 4 must realise that their credibility (such as it is) depends on it.

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should look at what Nairn could do so that the Council do not make the car parks cost-effective to run. This will call into question the competence of HC officers and councillors who thought up and proposed the scheme. Is it posible to find areas of common good land near the town centre/ harbour that could be turned over to free car parks? If these charges do come into effect in some car parks could we not deter people from using them?

As for the Local Councillors, do they benefit from the 3% pay award that was part of the budget proposal? Although Liz voted against, one cannot help but wonder if this was a damage limitation exercise for her in respect of the ill feeling about the Lochloy development.

Dram Wizard said...

@ Grand Wizard

I think you'll find it's more like the three stooges than the four musketeers, mind you at least the stooges gave me a laugh.

If you going to be a councillor it would seem to me that when you go to a public meeting you shouldn't totally agree with your constituents and then two days later turn that on its head by voting against something you said you fully supported. Three of our councillors voted for the budget cuts and that equals voting for parking charges in Nairn.

Their credibility is already totally and absolutely blown, how can we ever believe a word they say?

The best we can hope for is that the consultation finds that collecting parking charges from the two Common Good areas is not legal but that'll be nothing to do with our three councillors who'll still be hiding in their respective paper bags rather than try and put up any sort of a fight for Nairn.

You're the first to mention a lynch mob, I think most people would just like them to resign. I certainly won't be attending any public meetings they're invited to, there's no point. Can't believe a word they say

D.Ross said...

Considering that the you have to pay to park in the less well used, small untarmacked rough car parks in Glenmore forest (Sugar bowl carpark is £1/1hr, £1.50/3hrs, £2/day, £8 minibus or coach all day).

http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/forest-parks/glenmore-forest-park/sugarbowl

Car park charging in Nairn was inevitably going to arrive.

Personally I think that so long as the charges are reasonable & that the car parks which are on Common Good Land have a sign next to the ticket machine which states something like:- "This car park is on common good land & the charges go towards the common good fund to pay for the maintenance of these car parks & other common good projects to help better Nairn".

I think the tourists would have no problems in paying if they saw the payments go to such funds.

Graisg said...

A bit cruel on Liz anon, the SNP have been against this perk type stuff and don't take the free dinners at Highland Council I believe. Voting against a 3% rise in wages for Cllrs seems consistent.

And folks maybe the other three cllrs do have a cunning plan to defeat the parking charges - they had better show their hand soon though as it seems the subleties of the internal dynamics of Highland Council are lost on the internet residents of Nairnshire.

Anonymous said...

@DRoss

If car parking charges are going to be 'reasonable' then it's going to take years to make any sizeable revenue from them by the time HC has paid for machines, signs, someone to maintain the machines, car parking attendants, general maintenance of the car parks etc.

Car parking charges in Nairn were not inevitable, they're here because we've let HC impose them upon us, or more accurately because the councillors who represent Nairn failed to put up any sort of fight other than one voting against them - happy to be proved wrong

Anonymous said...

Could someone fill me in a bit please - genuine questions: where do the ticket machines come from? Have they been ordered yet - could this be found out? I thought I heard someone say they come from a private company, so does the money put in them go to that company? How is that going to be policed - if you are 15 mins late for example, how would they know; is that going to lead to more spy cameras or is someone going to be paid full time to watch the car parks? Most shops with their own car park say the parking schemes are run by private companies and nothing to do with them so wondering how this will work in reality. One more question - if you overstay and are given a ticket (by whom?), doesn't the money from the fine go to the courts, not HC?(If you pay!) Can't help feeling if a genuine alternative way of making money could be thought of, this scheme, which produced all my questions, might not need to happen?! Does someone out there have the answers please? :-)

D.Ross said...

To Anon @ 7:19pm

Highland Council car parks are monitored & fines paid to HC as explained here:-

https://www.highland.gov.uk/parking

Shops which have their own land for car parks usually employ a private company to monitor/enforce so that the shop can say "nothing to do with us".

However in most cases the shops on the big retail parades only rent the unit from the landlord management company & in reality its the landlord management company who employ the private enforcing company to enforce the car parking charges/fines etc.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 7:19PM

Perhaps they don't need to police the car parks. Put an entrance barrier in place, issue a ticket on entry, have a pay station where drivers pay as they are ready to leave, and a validated ticket is issued which then opens the exit barrier. Look at the Eastgate Centre, and Inverness Airport for examples. Any assistant who needs to be called up for problems could be anywhere in the Highlands. Oh, and don't forget the CCTV recorder for anyone damaging the infrastructure.

Anonymous said...

Are there any plans to have a follow up meeting with the Councillors so they can explain what they're plan is from here? At the moment we are just left to guess, which isn't helping the situation.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the ticket machines when installed could suffer a terrible accident.

Bye bye Nairn said...

From Highland Council's website...

'Local Government Elections

Local Councillors are responsible for making decisions on your behalf about local services'

The problem we have is that our local councillors in Nairn are patently not capable of making decisions on our behalf about local services and the next elections are not due until May 2022

There's not going to be anything left in Nairn by then, they'll have voted it all away

Taxed said...

@Anon 7:19PM

Suggest you ask one of our councillors to answer your questions.

Disappointed said...

Analysing both the video taken at the meeting at the Royal British Legion and the results of the voting in the council chamber for the budget proposal I’m left deeply disappointed.

The Legion meeting was clearly a case whereby three of our councillors fed us what we wanted to hear and then voted against that two days later.

It’s a shame that party politics seem to have overridden local interest, as it’s clear from the vote on the budget that only SNP councillors voted against the proposal, no one else did no matter what their political persuasion.

In common with several others I’m not happy to have Cllr MacDonald as a local councillor due to her land interests, but the biggest disappointment for me out of all this is Cllr Heggie who I voted for in the last local council elections. I had hoped that his independence ticket be be just that, not politically aligned and therefore free to vote as he please (hopefully in our interests) but for whatever reason Cllr Heggie seems to have seen fit to align himself with Inverness council rather than the people of Nairn, and not just over the budget issue.

Re looking at the video filmed at the Legion did anyone else get the feeling that Cllr Sagers was against the Nairn bypass? It would fit in with his Tory politics e.g. an anti SNP stance.

As for Cllr Fraser he remains our soft Tory.

I can’t say that we have even one councillor in post that I’d vote for again, they have failed both Nairn and it’s people badly.

Anonymous said...

Unless some new candidates step forward for the next local elections could we not ask that there’s an option on the ballot papers in 2022 whereby we just hand over all control of Nairn to highland council. It seems as though that’s what we have now and by not having any councillors we’d save a few salaries

Anonymous said...

Reading the comments here is this what's known as a groundswell of opinion? If so might I add my swell

Get it up ones self said...

No warnings of auroras posted but apparently several folk have seen a strange light in the sky over Nairn tonight, could this be from so many torches being lit? If so where will they march to, Inverness?

Graisg said...

@ a dram's a dram for all that - we'll think about that one