Although it’s name suggests Royal involvement this has nothing to do with the Windsors, folk should be under no illusions that this is made up of estates of lands and seabed that are controlled fully by the London Government treasury.

Another thing that there should be no illusions about is that the Estate belongs to Scotland and should be run by, and for, the benefit of Scotland.

As it is, the millions of pounds in revenues flow into the exchequer and are used to fund whatever the treasury decide. When Chair of Planning, Environment and Development on Highland Council I was involved in getting an unprecedented all cross party written agreement drawn up to call for the return of the Crown Estate to Scottish Government control. In spite of reminding those involved of the importance of this issue, however, it seems to have slipped down the scale of importance for the Lib Dem/Lab/Independent administration. You don’t have to guess why.

SNP MSP Rob Gibson’s comments last week on the scandal of the Crown Estate selling Scottish property to fund building shopping malls in England were a timely reminder of the “drip, drip” waste of Scottish revenue and capital wealth that continues to drain away unabated.

Rob said “Devolving the Crown Estate is long overdue and the current coalition’s plans to allow Scotland to appoint one Commissioner are seriously deficient. Selling Scottish property at a loss to fund shopping malls in England instead of holding onto the property to make the best return for further investment in Scotland is not acceptable with what are major assets. It raises serious questions about the Crown Estates stewardship of their resources in Scotland. With the Crown Estate currently responsible for and receiving revenues from Scotland’s seabed which is set to become one of our most valuable resources this state of affairs in unacceptable.” He added “The UK Government must act to fully devolve control of all elements of the Crown Estate and I am calling on the Lib Dems, who well know the benefit that could be derived for the North of Scotland, to ensure the coalition delivers that devolution as soon as possible.”

It does seem as if the appetite previously shown by prominent Lib Dems in the Highlands for the transfer of control of the Crown Estate has been seriously watered down now that Danny Alexander has to make decisions on these issues. Could it be that another famously “Unfair” issue is going to magically become “ok” again? We will see over the coming months but one thing the public can count on is that the SNP position, whether taken by MSPs  or Councillors remains consistent:

Return control of the Crown Estate assets to where they belong. Scotland.

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At the previous Committee I raised the issue of using the money (two amounts totalling £320,000 in all) to fund works to replace or repair the crumbling bridge at Lower Foyers and had been promised by the Chair, Carolyn Wilson, that this would be considered.  A temporary “Bailey Bridge has been in use there for far longer than intended and is now around 23 years old.

I consider this more than worthy of some overdue attention.

It appears, however, that the request to even look at this possibilty was ignored and that virtually all of the money has been assigned to Caithness Horizons between then and now.  Whilst I am supportive of the Caithness project it is more than disappointing that the various competing needs are not being weighed up – and of course – promises are not being kept.

The people who live in Lower Foyers deserve better than to continue to be ignored with regard to the bridge solution and I will continue to press for action.

I will also continue to look for the funding options and to point these out to the Lib Dem/Ind/Labour Administration. They cannot continue to ignore Lower Foyers.

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Who said that the big issues are never discussed at Community Councils?

At Strathglass Community Council last week we had the full agenda of roads, play parks and many other recurring themes, but the Community Council were also asked to respond to a request from the “No to Nuclear Power” campaign.

A very thoughtful and balanced presentation was given by one of the Community Council’s office bearers on the pros and cons of both sides of the argument of the issue of a Community Council responding at all on wider matters, such as Nuclear Power.  After discussion, it was agreed the Community Council’s views would be valid. From the floor one community member reminded the audience that the legacy of Chernobyl continues to cause problems many years after the disaster.

There was no vote as there was nobody there who could figure out why the Highlands – and Scotland – sitting on massive renewable potential, would ever want to invest in something where the environmental impact is measured in tens of thousands of years. Consequently the Community Council is making its position clear.

I was proud to witness the Community Council take a view on this when they could have so easily dodged it.

My own view, you will not be surprised to hear, is that investing in nuclear is daft and dangerous and the new fashion for dressing it up as the saviour of the energy market is one driven by self interest and expediency.

I notice that those Lib Dems now sharing power at Westminster have noticably soften their attitude from a straight “No” to “let’s look again” position. This reminds me of “Scrap the UNFAIR Highland Housing debt” which, apparently, is no longer “Unfair” when the Lib Dems get the chance to deliver.

Lib Dem principles and policies, it seems, have a “half life” of just a few months when grasping power for the wrong reasons.

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Drew welcomes Hausgauen Mayor Maurice Wiss

Following a successful visit by leading lights from Hausgauen in France businesses in Glen Urquhart are looking to further cement ties between the two communities. A small group of visitors, including the Mayor of the region and some of Hausgauen’s business community enjoyed the hospitality of local community representatives during a three day fact finding visit to Drumnadrochit. The French visitors were given a tour of the local attractions that included the Loch Ness Centre and a boat trip on the Loch in addition to seeing Urquhart Castle and being invited to dinners at the Fiddler’s Cafe and the Loch Ness Lodge Hotel.

The visit was judged to have been a great success and areas for future cooperation between the two communities are being developed. In order to build on these ties community and business leaders in Drumnadrochit are now planning to visit Hausgauen for their annual Tattoo in September.

Aird and Loch Ness SNP Councillor Drew Hendry said “I was delighted to be able to be involved in welcoming these visitors and we think that the Hausgauen folk left suitably impressed with both the natural beauty of the area and with the hospitality they received. It is a real indication of the way this community is willing to pull together to try something new and they have to be congratulated for their efforts. We wish them well as they take this forward”

Chair of Glen Urquhart Community Council, David Fraser said:

“We hope that our planned visit to Hausgauen will confirm the links  We are trying something new, this is not a traditional “town twinning” and we will have to go a bit deeper than normal to find lasting ties, but clearly there is a great base of affection and mutual interest between the two communities. We will look at how we involve our young people and how we can measure the benefits of further ties, but I am very optimistic that this will be good for the area”

he added “My sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to providing our French visitors with a wonderful introduction to Glen Urquhart and its people. The generosity of the businesses and the manner in which they are all worked together was a credit to our community. I firmly believe we have made a positive start in building an alliance that will bring benefits to the businesses of Glen Urquhart and equally importantly the wider community”

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Following questions regarding securing the advantage of cutting edge mobile broadband technology for the Highlands, a letter sent by Willie Roe, in response to SNP Councillor Drew Hendry, has confirmed a commitment to work with mobile operators to gain access to the developing 4G mobile broadband. 4G is cutting edge technology which aims to offer landline type connection speeds over the mobile phone network. This means that there is a potential to connect people in more remote areas, ensure that those on the move in Highland can do business anywhere and that, potentially, employers can set up businesses or employ more people to work from any location covered by 4G without losing out in terms of remaining competitive.

Drew said:

“We have been pushing for HIE to make a pitch for the development of this amazing technology for quite a while now and we are delighted that the issue is going to be taken up seriously. Mobile operators will need to make a real commitment to improved mobile phone coverage for mobile broadband to be a meaningful alternative in Highland, but, if done properly, development of this system will mean better broadband access and better mobile phone reception at the same time.

Highland businesses and consumers have been crying out for better service across our region and whilst improvements to existing technologies should still be pursued vigorously, we also need to look to the future. There is little point in upgrading networks only to find that when they are completed everything is on its way to being obsolete. Many people remember buying ISDN equipment as recently as 5 or 6 years ago only to rip it out months later. Any 4G development has the potential to catapult the Highlands to the very front of the modern communications world and has the potential to give business here a serious advantage as well as opening up a massive range of opportunities for Highlands people wherever the internet or communications are a factor.”

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Honey bees are very important to our environement so we were determined to seek specialist advice to help them "choose a new home" rather than our chimney. If you call the council about bees then they will direct you to a group of enthusiasts and volunteers who both look after and help with bee incidents.

My call resulted in one of my own constiuents, Colin Robertson of Teandalloch, coming to the rescue with his roof ladder. After a bit of high wire bee wrangling and the discovery that thjere was no queen, the decision was made to discourage them by simply putting a plastic seal over the chimney. This simple act caused a bit of confusion amongst the bees but they moved away over the next 48 hours.

I am very grateful to Colin (as I am sure many others have been in the past) and it is of great credit to him and his fellow bee enthusiasts that they ask for no reward to help out. They are a shining example of those who help simply because they can.

In addition to his help I have now found a new source for free range eggs as Colin also keeps chickens as well as bees. Honey and eggs – I will be making a bee line over there.

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Just servicing the interest paid to Westminster costs Highland council around £15 million pounds per year, put into context, that roughly equates to the amount being advertised as needed in  “cuts” to Highland council’s budget for the next three years by the Lib Dem led administration.

My motion was simple and simply called for the council to restate it’s position. Although everyone agreed it had to be countered by an Administration motion, for political reasons, saying much the same but using around 3 times as many words (wriggle room? I will leave you to decide)

I was not unduly concerned by this “reverse” as the principle had been accepted and the council was still committed to calling for the “write off”

The path ahead should have been easy. As recently as December, during a period when everybody was aware of the financial situation caused by the mishandling of the UK economy, the newly appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury, MP Danny Alexander had described the debt as “unfair” and urged action to write it off.  Indeed, this was one of a few bullet points for the Lib Dem’s demands for “A fairer funding deal for the HIghlands” Full details can be seen here

The issue was clear, this was a “fairness” issue – everyone was agreed, surely at last the issue would be dealt with as promised?

It seems not. In yet another reversal, yet another commitment has been blown away and suddenly MP Danny Alexander says “”the UK’s “overall financial situation” must be resolved first.”

That is one mighty kick into the long grass.

Highland must wait until all other UK issues are resolved may be a convenient way out, but remember, in his own words, this was an issue of “fairness” not simple economics. Surely the benefit of being able to deliver is to be able to deliver what is fair?

So, in other words Danny will do nothing about the “Fairness” of the situation, it simply is no longer a priority.

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SNP Highland Councillor, Drew Hendry, has asked for money to be made available for works to the bridge at Lower Foyers. Highland Council’s Resources Committee was told that £250,000 lies unspent from the stalled Ness Hydro project in the Capital Expenditure budget of the Chief Executive’s budget. The lifeline bridge has been out of commission for over 20 years and the community in Lower Foyers have had to make to with an ageing Bailey bridge which was only ever supposed to be a temporary measure. Recently even foot crossings over the old bridge were ruled out and concern was raised about access to Lower Foyers in the event of an emergency, especially after the dramatic landslide there in 2009. As a result of the concerns, Councillor Hendry forced the Emergency Planning department to create an individual plan for Lower Foyers and called, at that time for a permanent solution for access to Lower Foyers.

Speaking after the committee, SNP Councillor Drew Hendry (Aird and Loch Ness) said:

 “It is pretty clear that the Ness Hydro scheme is going nowhere in the near future and at the same time we have real need of attention in Lower Foyers. I have asked that these funds be made available for projects like the Lower Foyers bridge because this is really due some attention after over 20 years and there are funds to start some work. Although the sum involved is probably not nearly enough to get the whole job done, it could pay for investigation and preliminary work to be undertaken and then if there is further delay to other works it would be ready to benefit. It could possibly enable some measures to reintroduce the foot crossing closed last year.  I was pleased that the Chair of Resources, Carloyn Wilson agreed to consider this along with other suitable projects.”

He added “If there is money that is not working hard for the public at the moment then we need to identify it and apply the support to those things that can be delivered. I hope that the people of Lower Foyers are considered by the Administration and that we can finally see some progress on getting the bridge sorted before there is a critical problem.

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Farr is an older school built long before today's traffic levels would have even been considered possible and as such was built on a raised area and near a bend in the road. When parents were dropping off pupils previously they had the joint problem of blocking up and double parking at the small school entrance and having to watch out for non school traffic, often travelling too fast for comfort.

Whilst discussing the issue with the headteacher, Sheila Lamont, in 2007, we chatted about how we might look at other ways to solve the problem and came up with an idea to investigate using the nearby community woodland (which is adjacent to the school). So the plan began to evolve. 3 years later and with huge support from Strathnairn Community Woodlands, spearheaded by Peter Christie and Donald Longden, Highland council's safer routes to school, the parent council, local community leaders and Sheila's and her staff's own efforts the drop off point is now a reality.

Pupils can now enjoy being dropped off safely near the school, play in a safe area whilst waiting and then join a "Walking Bus" with a teacher for the short and pleasant walk through the wood to school each morning. Early signs are that parents are adapting well to the idea and pupils are enjoying it immensely.

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Speaking at the Education, Culture and Sport Committee he said "The problems highlighted in the recent inspection showing major fabric issues such as dry and wet rot do not tell the whole story. There have been on-going accommodation problems at the school including poor toilet accomodation and big difficulties with the layout. It is a huge credit to the teaching staff at the school that they have mainted a vibrant learning environment whilst coping with these difficulties. I hope that the work will allow the children to enjoy an improved learning experience."

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