As outlined in a previous Gurn report Highland Council are making several budget saving cuts in order to comply with the freeze on council tax.
TEC services are to reduce repairs and maintenance to piers and harbours by 5%, with priority being given to any health and safety issues.
Further to that there will be a 10% increase in harbour dues from the 1st April 2009 for non-commercial vessels.
The hike in dues is way above inflation, and with the cap on improving piers and harbours is a tax on leisure users, which the council has been trying to encourage in recent years with the demise of commercial boats.
With the increasing size of the shingle banks at the harbour mouth many boats will struggle to get out to sea this year, and if funds are only to be used for essential work there is little chance of Highland Council clearing these navigational hazards away.
Will the increased dues mean we will hear less in the way of chinks from Pimms filled glasses by Nairn’s boating fraternity this summer?
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Off topic but I thought the HC headquarters in Glenurquart Road were starting to show their age now. A feeling of slightly faded municipal grandeur had started to set in. However, there were still free cups of coffee and biscuits for the hacks and members of the public that had turned up.
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