YOUR VIEWS: Greens out of the Scottish Government, Home Bargains plans for Inverness and Highland Council’s £2 billion investment aim
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‘Good riddance to the Greens’
The Greens are out of government. They were less environmentalists and more power crazy opportunists pushing half baked policies with the fervour and single minded intent of one of our magnificent red stags galloping into the rut - the ones they put a target on the heads of 24/7.
The sting in the tail for them was the humiliation of being dumped instead of being the dumpers.
The Greens stirred up controversy with their particular kind of power sharing holding the government to ransom. It was a joke really considering they only managed to scrape a few votes to just about become MSPs in the first place. Their unfathomable steadfast support of the insane headlong rush into over deployment of unreliable wind energy to enrich global investment companies to the detriment of communities, the environment and energy security helped give their party a new slogan. Green is the new Blackout.
Lyndsey Ward
Spokeswoman for Communities B4 Power Companies
Beauly
Plans for new Home Bargains store in city
Plans for the development of a new Home Bargains store in the Stratton area of Inverness have been submitted to Highland Council. The £5 million development outlines the construction of a store, ancillary café, and garden centre located off Barn Church Road. Projections indicate the potential creation of 40 new local jobs, with an additional 55 jobs expected during construction and within the supply chain.
“I personally think this is a disgrace and certainly one i will not be happy with. Why is it even up for consideration when we have so many empty retail units around inverness? What is the point in opening another that will then be empty in years to come. The area of Barn Church Road is already becoming a problem with traffic and the layout of roads not being able to keep up with the amount of people now in residence in the area. I live in the area and this is a real concern and one personally i will not be welcoming. I hope this is going to the public in this area for their consideration so it can be declined. I am all for creating jobs for the local area and people, but go and fill a space that is already empty rather than erecting a retail unit in a residential area with a road that already cannot cope with the amount of traffic.” - Ross, Inverness
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Council’s £2 bllion plan for schools and roads
Highland Council has announced a plan to invest more than £2 billion in the region’s roads, schools and other infrastructure over the next 20 years. Council Convener Bill Lobban said the plan is “what the people of the Highlands need and deserve” and Council leader Raymond Bremner said the big change is that “these projects are deliverable within the foreseeable future.” It will be funded by borrowing and potential rises in council tax. Two per cent of council tax income annually will also be ring-fenced for investment.
“Sounds a lot …..but over 20 years it’s only £10 million a year Which isn’t a great deal when you consider THC budget for 2024 is £712 million!!! And in 20 years what’s the value of £10 million?” - David M Edes
“Putting the desperately needed funding required for the Highlands schools to one side for a moment I must point out that £2 billion is NOT enough to deal with the urgent repairs that have already been identified as requiring immediate attention in the Highlands, never mind deal with the problems that will emerge in the next 20 years. The council's roads budget is also used to repair the Highlands bridges. Infirmary Bridge in the heart of Inverness was identified as requiring urgent repairs almost a decade ago and hell will freeze over before the Council's engineers will be given the funds to enable them to sleep soundly at night. Last year Councillor Duncan Macpherson of Inverness South ward, said that it would make sense to look at the long-term future of the crossing. He was told at the time that the estimated cost was £500,000 to repair the bridge but an engineer advised him that it would cost no more than £1.3 million to replace the bridge completely. Five years earlier I was told that the bridge would cost closer to £4m so it would be helpful if somebody provided a useful estimate. Assuming for a second that the £1.3 estimate was accurate the cost in coming years of constantly needing to find the money to make emergency repairs to the Victorian era structure is a waste of council funding.. Repeatedly spending around £500,000 on the bridge instead of sorting out the problem once and for all means that in five, or 10 years time, the council will need to spend a similar amount to have it repaired again. This is just one example of just how inadequate this funding is going to prove to be which is why this announcement in the run up to the local elections frankly disgusts me.” - Gerry Reynolds, MSc
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