Draft traffic order for Nairn – practical difficulties for River CC in responding - call for public meeting

Last night (Weds 9^th October) the River Community Council, chaired by Tommy Hogg, had an item on the agenda “Proposed new parking restrictions”. Tommy held a rather large document in his hands and said:

“This is the document here and basically I honestly thought when I saw the original documents it basically took in our own area River and the High Street etc, but having gone through it I notice that there’s also bits within your area,” Tommy turned towards Rosemary (West CC)  who was sitting on the public benches and then continued: “and Suburban so it’s not only the River problem. When you read through some of the suggestions, what they’re hoping to do, it’s quite a bit of documentation with maps etc. To be honest I agree with some of the things but again there’s some of the things I don’t agree with.”

Tommy had only obtained the document earlier on Wednesday, prompted to investigate by the notices that have appeared in many parts of the town centre on the poles that support road signs. Simon Noble then said that it sounded like people needed to see the detail and what affected their particular street. He asked Tommy how they would proceed. Tommy Replied:

“I think we should actually call a public meeting Simon,” Tommy replied.  The meeting then discussed the difficulties the community council had had obtaining a copy of the document from the Highland Council. Tommy said: “up until this morning it hadn’t been available.” As the debate continued he added: “one copy between 10,000 people.”

Stephanie Whittaker then said: “We have lots of consultations that are thrown at us, sometimes we don’t have the expertise to actually be consulted about them because it is specialised. We don’t get the things until it’s quite late and we can’t show the general public. If I were the Highland Council I think I would put these maps up to very large and have them on display somewhere so people could see them, it seems practical to me. The Council website is almost inaccessible; when you try to get things it’s really hard to get them.”

Tommy then reiterated his desire for a public meeting for the whole town: “You see a lot of people are just not on line, a lot of older people are not on line. This is what they don’t seem to grasp.”

Liz reacted quickly after hearing the concerns last night she told the Gurn early this morning (Tues 10th) that  she had made the point to TECs that paper copies are required or misunderstandings occur. She also stated that she had pointed out that any alterations or additions to existing regulations should have been flagged up so community could understand what changes are intended. Liz also sent the Gurn a digital copy of the traffic document which we have placed on line here.

Also thanks to the efforts of River CC’s Stephanie Whittaker the Community now has a little extra time to respond to the proposals in the document. The area Roads and Community Works manager responded to her and said:

“You have explained that, given the importance of these proposals, the three Community Councils in Nairn wish to have a joint meeting to discuss their comments, and indeed any objections, to the proposals.  I understand the earliest practical date for the meeting is the 16^th October; too late for the published consultation period.

We want to get this right and community input is very important so I am happy to accept comments and objections to the making of the order from any or all of the three Nairn Community Councils in writing to the address below, or by email to me, at any time up to and including Tuesday 22nd October. Objections should state the name and address of the objector, the matters to which they relate and the grounds on which they are made.”

If any Gurnites out there have any thoughts on the draft Traffic Order they can see a copy here. Click the read more tab to see the address to write to:

 Area Roads and Community Works Manager

Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
Transport, Environmental and Community Services

The Highland Council

Diriebught Depot

94 Diriebught Road

Inverness

IV2 3QN