Firhall on the beeb

The quiet life in a child-free village.

UPDATE: And now in the Express, Iain Bain gets quoted as a sceptic:

'Closer to home the editor of the local Nairnshire Telegraph also grumbled in the programme about a lack of children’s voices around the place and an unhealthy “skewed demographic”
 'More here

Seasonal sight on the beach

As summer continues, litter begins to appear on the beaches. Thnaks to one of the regular readers for the picture.

So easy to pin the blame on one person?

The above picture shows the People's take on the latest cuts news. There's a lot of material in the Sunday Press about Danny's 'prepare for 40% cuts' instruction. Now most people will realize that it is the entire Westminster Government that is is coming up the cuts agenda but so often it is easier just to blame one individual and Danny seems to be the target these days.

Danny the axeman?

Cuts Ward Forum - another dissatisfied customer

This in from 'A Jury':

'Having studied the hand-outs from Wednesday's Ward Forum, I am amazed that Highland council should have such a low opinion of the intelligence of its electorate. They ask us to give opinions on topics where the basic information provided is insufficient to assess the problem, never mind propose a solution. What figures that were quoted were rounded up or down, perhaps because they feel we cannot cope with more than one decimal place.- but suggesting a rather slack approach to accuracy.

A relatively large proportion of the expenditure £14.6m. goes on computers, communications and technology. Is this new and expensive technology being used to reduce expenditure?

e.g. Video conferencing council debates, thus allowing members to remain in their constituencies, and saving expenses for travelling, meals and often overnight accommodation. Paperless billing of council tax, rents etc., saving on postage as well as office time. 

I noted that there was no mention of cutting members salaries and expenses. But then WE must put up with poorer education, less care for the elderly, closed libraries and swimming pools, not to mention smelly dustbins. After all THEY must have their meals accommodation and travel expenses. Why else are they in the job? 

Figuratively Speaking,

A Jury'

Nairn pool proposed close-down - BBC Reporting Scotland 20th June2010

'Yestosh' has kindly posted the relevant piece on Youtube.

Come to Nairn on holiday - excellent sunsets free!

This picture in from one of the regular sunset watchers, taken last night, initially prospects for a decent sunset looked fairly slim but there was a last minute turnaround. This observer missed it, staying at home to continue sampling a nice range of cheap and tasty ciders obtained from Lidl Forres. (picture will enlarge)

Update: Another view of last night' stunning sunset from Charlie Black.

Brian captured an image too over at MyNairn

Could we get by with one less Highland Councillor in Nairn?

At last night’s cuts consultation former Cllr David Fraser suggested a big cutback in the number of councillors in the Highlands, he told the meeting:

I heard Cllr Foxley on the radio recently saying there were no sacred cows. I just wonder why they haven’t considered a reduction in the number of councillors because I feel the Council should petition the Scottish Government to reduce the councillors by 25% and save half a million a year.’

Sandy replied that that had come up at several consultations and he’d mentioned it recently to John Swinney. ‘I think a reduction in councillors maybe the way to go,’ he said.

Cuts closures and pay-offs

As we reported earlier David Alston's blast at Liz on Wednesday night for being political didn't go down well with Nairnites. He was shouted down for his efforts. Let's face it all is political in Highland Council these days and the mere prescence of David Alston and Micheal Foxley in Rosebank made it even more so. They were just as guilty of 'politics' as Liz. Anyway Liz told the Gurn her thoughts about the consultation meeting, she said:

'The proposal to close the swimming pool is coming from the Administration - Sandy, Laurie and Graham so if it stays open they saved it from themselves closing it! The Care Home position wasn't saved although the public made it clear how important they were to their communities.

A lot of the proposals in the consultation have already been agreed by administration and gone through committee - grass cutting tender, privatising care homes, service point payment strategy, privatising care at home, day care review. David Alston said no decisions had been made.

Times are hard, and although folk like having their say I'd question the value of tonight's and the rest of the consultation across Highland and time and money could have been better spent with officers looking for savings in services without all this PR exercise to worry the public and staff and dividing communities.'

Large footfall to view Sainsbury's plans

Sainsbury's reps were reporting a large turn-out at the Community Centre today as a steady stream of Nairnites filed in to see the plans and fill in comment sheets. Still nearly half an hour to go and see for yourself (18.35).

We took a picture of the plan, it should enlarge and there is an artist's impression in the Nairnshire. Sainsbury's - bring it on! Let's get Nairn a supermarket worthy of the new millennium!

Nairn gets consulted

After Sandy Park receiving two separate petitions from young people on the swimming pool issue the meeting began just like any other ward forum. That is to say there was the compulsory Powerpoint presentation. We heard how bad the UK finances were and saw some nice graphs but really is there anyone left on Planet Nairn that doesn’t know how bad things are? Then there were a couple of other oral presentations to the overflowing main hall in Rosebank.

After this part of the proceedings we were given a little explanation of what was to happen next. There was a main booklet and a supplementary series of colour coded booklets to guide us in our debate and decision making. Each crowded table had to write down their responses to all manner of questions such as ‘Do we need the same number of Public toilets?’. To this observer it seemed that with the amount of people in the room it was a near futile exercise with it being very hard to hear the folk at the end of the other end of the table as the decibel rate in the room climbed higher. There were four periods of fifteen minutes to answer the questions and make group comments. Our table was not alone in not finishing responses to all these questions. Often there were contradictory opinions expressed and it was almost impossible to come to a consensus on often quite technical questions. Were we all being herded in the required direction anyway? Does a lot hinge on the questions being asked?

It was a great relief to get to the proper question and answer section, which contrary to some expectations lasted for over an hour. Liz made the first statement outlining her fears that despite the consultation process some things seemed to be getting cut anyway. She sat down to applause ringing around the hall. Cllr David Alston (LibDem) got quite shirty with Liz over that and started talking about political point scoring and then the citizens present got shirty with him in turn. Things looked like they were going to get quite nasty but they calmed down.
There were some more difficult moments for the administration councillors and the accompanying high heid yins as members of the public made their points (and many of them spoke eloquently on the swimming pool issue).

And so the consultation road show process came to an end in the Highlands with a farewell performance in Nairn. Goodness knows how they will find the millions of pounds worth of cuts without saying goodbye to so much members of the public take for granted. Folk made their way home as the late evening light slowly faded. Things will change, it looks like the Highland Council will take on board the fact that the swimming pool must survive but just what else will go in the coming months and years?