Wouldn't have been wonderful if Nairn's three Highland Councillors that actually voted for the budget had instead gone the other way and stood up and said that Parking Charges were unacceptable to our community and if the Highland Council regime tried to implement them on Nairn then they would lead the Civil Resistance should there be attempts to actually install them?
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22 comments:
Though i think there is the possibility of implementing them cheaply with minimum disruption. Eg honesty boxes near the beach car parks and toilets and first 30 mins free in town.
Once something is officially passed in this modern world, my experience has always been that it is unlikely it will be completely reversed.
He and our three Councillors believed what they were told. Were they Naive or is there a new world out there that will prove me wrong?
I hope there is BUT in reality I doubt that hope will be satisfied!
I sincerely hope that when the meters arrive that the locals rally round and make sure that visitors to the town are well aware of the plenty free parking available within a very short distance from the town centre.
The parking charges 3 work for the council not the citizens of Nairn
The comment from Mr MacKenzie confirms what we suspected.
Those who attended the meeting in Nairn British Legion about the parking charges before the Council meeting and vote will remember that Michael Green (who as a former Councillor understood the process) warned very clearly that when the budget proposals were voted on, that vote was binding and the budget plans could not subsequently be amended. That is why it was so important for the councillors from the town (like Nairn, Dingwall and Alness) to act BEFORE the vote either to get the proposal withdrawn, or to table an amendment.
Our councillors failed to act. They may have been ignorant of procedure. They may have been insufficiently astute to understand the process. They were certainly naive and gullible in acquiescing in some vague unspecified formula about "consultation". The three who voted for the proposals are guilty of a serious error of judgement. Mr MacKenzie from Dingwall seems to have been confused, taken for a ride, or misled, as well.
Whatever the explanation, the plain fact remains that our three Councillors are culpable. They are on notice from the business community and the residents whom they represent that they have to act effectively to ensure that this proposal does not happen. If they fail, their credibility will be beyond recovery and they will have to resign.
A postscript comment on the idea mentioned by Anonymous at 7.57am: that suggestion is as foolish as it is unrealistic. Honesty boxes are always vulnerable and offer no firm revenue stream. And any permit-regime (first 30 mins free or whatever) still needs all the apparatus of tickets, administration, monitoring and enforcement, which is costly. So Anonymous needs to 'get real'.
The parking charges three councillors have shown that they not only work for Highland Council but they fully support them. It might have proved futile for them to vote against the council budget proposal but it would have clearly shown that they fully support the community that they were elected to represent
How is an honesty box more vulnerable than a ticket machine? Yes no firm revenue stream but tickets by the coast will drive people into fishertown and require additional parking permits etc.
The high street already has parking restrictions that require checking. So the only additional fee is the ticket machines.
The alternative is to cut spending elsewhere. My point is parking income needn't be the end of the known universe.
Maybe the 3 councillors are calling the Highland Council officials bluff?
The three Nairn Cllrs,maybe they'll donate their piece money to a Nairn parking fund?
SNP fault entirely for freezing council tax for 8 years
@Anon 4:55 PM
Council tax equals but a tiny amount of the budget. The real culprits are the Westminster Tory government who put us all under the austerity measures that mean less money for all councils. The policy has failed miserably as national debt has increased and thanks to Cameron's Brexit vote we're about to become even more impoverished. Time for Scotland to become independent.
Saw this on the Gurn, must be true, seems Highland Council got more money from the Scottish Government than ever before.
"The financial settlement for year 2018/2019 shows that the council will receive £439.463m revenue...
This represents a flat cash settlement - the same as they received in 2017/2018 *accounting for inflation*. (ie more actual cash)...
When council tax is added, estimated at £128.2m (including a 3% rise) this gives a revenue budget of £567m...
*One million pounds more than 2017/18* IN REAL TERMS...
Added to this, we have the Scottish Governments Capital grant to the council which is £4.4m MORE than the previous year. A total of £41.305m...
On top of this money they have also been giving money for three flood prevention schemes:
• Smithton & Culloden = £9.03m • Caol & Lochside = £294m • Drumnadrochit = £196m This is another £9.583m."
@SNPverybadindeed
https://www.local.gov.uk/local-government-finance-settlement-2018
Nuff said
Independent from UK but want to stay in EU? Typical Scottish nasty party hypocrite
@Anon 8:21 PM
Indirectly thanks to Westminster we're getting parking charges. I doubt we would in an independent Scotland, still, enjoy your first ticket.
The majority of the folk in Scotland voted to stay in the EU, sorry to hear tat you think we're nasty
@Anon 5:16PM
A greater majority of people in Scotland voted to stay in the UK, so what is the point of the SNP? Unfortunately an independent Scotland would be exactly that, outside the UK and outside the EU, with a massive fiscal deficit and debt. So there would be even more reason to implement parking charges and every other kind of service charge you can think of.....
@Anon 5:16PM
Oh aye, the too wee, too poor, too stupid argument
Interestingly a study by the University of Edinburgh found that the great majority of indigenous Scots voted for Scottish independence
Good job we're still in the UK though where there's no debt, not even a few trillion pounds worth
Anon 5.16
What's the point of the SNP. Well how about at a local level whereby Nairn's SNP councillor voted against the parking charges as did 19 of her SNP colleagues in the vote for the Highland council draft budget.
To Still Yes @8:47am,
"Interestingly a study by the University of Edinburgh found that the great majority of indigenous Scots voted for Scottish independence "
Who are "indigenous Scots"??....Those that were born here?, those whose parents were born here?, or those whose grandparents were born here?..how far back do you go??
I wasn't born here, but my direct male line I have traced back to 1760ish & I have found the graves etc in the Highlands, pure blood Clan Ross! How many people can go that far back???
Or do you go by DNA? That would remove most of the Fisher families of Nairn as remember the DNA test that was done a few years back? Traced them back to Spain or thereabouts!!
Don't forget that Culloden was not English vs Scots...more like Highlanders vs Lowlanders...Just as many Scots Clans on the so called "English side"!! Go have a look at the battle plan up at the visitor site!
@Dross
Indigenous comes from the Latin 'indegina', a native
For the purposes of the study it was indeed indigenous people (those born in Scotland) that were looked at
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/independence-referendum-figures-revealed-majority-5408163
And thanks for the history lesson, many of us Scots are indeed completely ignorant when it comes to our history and rely on the input from others
Again to Blood Clot @ 11:28
"Indigenous comes from the Latin 'indegina', a native
For the purposes of the study it was indeed indigenous people (those born in Scotland) that were looked at"
Just an example of where looking at ONLY the birth certificate is wrong:-
www.indigenouspeople.net/
"Academics who define indigenous peoples as "living descendants of pre-invasion inhabitants of lands now dominated by others. They are culturally distinct groups that find themselves engulfed by other settler societies born of forces of empire and conquest" have encountered criticism as they fail to consider regions and states where indigenous peoples constitute a majority"
Being able to trace my direct male line to 1760ish as pure blood Scots I classify under the "living descendants", & my cultural/ethnic/religious outlook is more similar to the "indigenous" category than say a person who was born here but whose parents & cultural/ethnic/religious outlook is totally different as from a different country.
Like I said originally, classing people by birth certificate alone, is wrong & racist. I've have the direct "you were not born here bugger off" stuff before. When I ask them if they can trace their direct male blood line to 1760 Highlands Scotland (like I can), they usually go quiet!
@Dros
"I classify under the "living descendants", & my cultural/ethnic/religious outlook is more similar to the "indigenous" category than say a person who was born here but whose parents & cultural/ethnic/religious outlook is totally different as from a different country".
So you voted for Scottish independence then?
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