Thursday, October 01, 2020

Joan Noble submits Independent Transport report concerning King Street development parking arrangements to all councillors on the planning committee

Joan Noble has already questioned the parking arrangements for the proposed King Street development and submitted representations along with other groups and individuals (for and against the development) to the Highland Council's e-planning file which can be accessed here.  
 
Now she has also submitted an Independent report. In a covering letter she tells the Highland Council planning committee members:
 
"I write to respectfully ask you to consider the attached independent transport report compiled by one of the foremost experts in the field, Kevin Martin.
Mr Martin has appeared as an expert witness in many enquiries and appeals including several for Highland Council.

I commissioned the report from him as I was distressed at the apparent loss of 25% of Nairn town centre car parking, and hoped that an expert report might support objections about loss of parking submitted by Nairn BID, Association of Nairn Businesses, both Nairn Community Councils and Nairn Improvement Community Enterprise, plus individuals.  
 
I was also very concerned that, even to a lay person, the parking layout  proposed by the architect on 19th August  (purporting to redesign the car parks to produce 20 more spaces) respected neither HC or National guidelines and safety requirements, and was a danger to the public.   

Mr. Martin's report speaks for itself, and confirms in a completely independent way that between loss of spaces and increased usage Nairn car parks will lose 50 or more spaces.  Safe and legally compliant redesign of existing car parking can produce 2 new spaces at best."
 
Gurnites can find a copy of the report here - you may wish to make a cuppa before reading the document, if short of time however, the conclusions are on pages 13 and 14. 

The application is due to be discussed on Friday October the 9th and a copy of the relevant meeting documents is available here.  
 
This meeting replaces the scheduled meeting of September 22nd which was cancelled due to technical difficulties.