SNP Councillor Drew Hendry

Archive for July, 2010

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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With the pace of broadband and internet technology often overtaking current needs, the SNP group on Highland Council have welcomed a commitment gained from HIE Chairman, Willie Roe, to attempt to “Leapfrog” broadband technology for the Highlands.

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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Not quite "Bats in the Belfry" but a week or so ago I had bees in my chimney. The honey bees had been searching for a place to set up a hive and decided that they liked our place. Flattered as I was none of us relished sharing with these little natural wonders, especially as they had found a crack to come through, in numbers, into our bedrooms.

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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I brought a motion to Highland Council asking for the Council to reaffirm it’s position that the Housing debt should be written off. This grossly unfair piece of financial blackmail has been roundly condemned by members of all parties and Independents since it was first employed to try to force Highland’s tenant to accept a transfer of council housing to housing societies. The carrot was – transfer and we will write this off, don’t and you will have to live with the debt (around £146 million pounds)

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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