Loading ...It is with great regret that I feel that I have to tell you that, through conversations with Cllrs Howie and Williamson, both of them told me, last year that they would not support the hydro scheme in the Birks no matter what any poll would suggest. They are keen to keep within party lines and in that respect they cannot support any hydro scheme in the Birks.
This is a sham, the vast majority of the town are either supportive OR do not mind, this referendum will prove nothing.
I hope the scheme goes ahead inspite of the dithering of Cllr’s Williamson and Pitlochryite Howie
I would like to applaud the two excellent articles in January’s “Comment”, one from Peter Hounam and the other from Liz Hodgson both of which are concerned with the feeling of powerlessness that ordinary people have when faced by remote and powerful bureaucracies over which they have little or no control.
I have long felt that one of the most disastrous changes made since the war was Edward Heath’s “reform” of local government in 1973, which created large local bureaucracies which are totally out of touch with local needs. Perth & Kinross is a prime example and I feel it is essential that smaller autonomous units are created within Perthshire to give local communities more comtrol over their own lives.
The ridiculousness of the present situation was made evident to me recently when I found that some of the Councillors on the planning committee who will shortly decide the fate of the Bank House site in Pitlochry live as far away as Kinross! What do they know or care about the future of Pitlochry? Yet the decision they will help to make in the next few weeks will decide the future of Pitlochry for many years to come.
Decisions about the future of this town should be made on the basis of what the people of Pitlochry want. Any decision which ignores this would be antidemocratic and wrong and must be resisted.
Perthshire is controlled by the Scottish National Party and it is ironic that a party which has struggled for decades to have power devolved from Westminster to Scotland, has not yet put forward any suggestion that control over their own communities should be devolved further down the scale to new authorities like Highland Perthshire as Peter Hounam suggested.
For the SNP to demand independence or “devo-max” for Scotland, without also saying that devolution should happen further down the scale too, is short sighted, contradictory, illogical and even hypocritical. Let the SNP (and indeed the other political parties at Holyrood ) show that they are the true party of devolution and local democracy by taking up this cause now.
Alex Salmond and his fellow members of the SNP may achieve their ambition in 2014 of gaining independence for Scotland from the rest of the UK but their self-congratulation may not last long. If they have by then given no thought to local democracy in the Scottish regions, parts of Scotland may then decide that Holyrood itself is too remote and begin to demand their own independence. Orkney and Shetland, with their strong Norse backgrounds and culture, or even the Highland and Islands, might very well decide that separation from the rest of Scotland would be in their best interests.
Scotland is not, and never has been, a homogeneous country and in fact its diversity is one of its most attractive features and it may very well split up into smaller units some time in the future. It is essential that Scotland remains united but our rulers should remember before it is too late that throughout history, Highlanders have been as hostile to rule from Edinburgh as the Scottish people as a whole have been to direct rule from Westminster.
(Alex Salmond and his colleagues might like to ponder the Treaty of Ardtornish of 1462. John MacDonald of Islay, the Lord of the Isles, contracted the treaty with Edward IV King of England to counteract the increasingly centralised power of the King of Scotland. It didn’t actually help him much as he was out of power himself within 30 years and the power of the Scottish kings thereafter increased rapidly)
The best way to avoid the fragmentation of Scotland would be for Holyrood to start thinking now about how to give local communities more control over their own futures by devolving power to regional and local authorities. In the case of Highland Perthshire, a share of council tax revenues should go direct to the local area and decisions over planning and other matters should be in the hands of the people and their elected representatives. Our rulers may think that such ideas are impractical but until recently, devolution from Westminster to Holyrood was itself also considered thus, but thankfully, devolution has now been achieved.
Scotland should lead the way in not only calling for more people power but also for curbing the power of large organisations such as supermarkets as Liz Hodgson suggested. How amazing and heartening that two such inspiring and heartfelt manifestos appeared in the same copy of Comment! Maybe it is a sign of future trends. Politicians and business leaders ignore them at your peril; you have been warned!
Roger W H West, Croftinloan, Pitlochry
Why is it never a nice positive headline in the Comment. It should be sunshine over Taymouth - they have done a huge amount of work, golf course complete, incredible restoration work in the castle and great plans going forward.
Diggers are busy making new access roads as we speak - work has not stopped. I learned a long time ago to ignore rumours and hearsay in our lovely area - it is a rural thing. I suggest that your writings would be better received if it reflected fact rather than local gossip.
Robin Menzies
This is huge, mad money for a cinema building when this last weekend in mid November the mobile screen machine showed FIVE top rated new films in the town in a carpark and then drove away leaving behind no continuing overhead and maintenance costs for the community to meet for the indefinite future.
There is a cowboy practicing in Highland Perthshire so beware! A friend described just how he was taken to the cleaners by a personable conman. Needing hedge and small trees cut back, the friend saw an advert for tree and gardening services and rang the number. The man arrived, looked at the job and offered to start there and then.
Alex Peake
What a line up for the byelection:
V Clements – Liberal Democrat. Well meaning guy saddled with a toxic political party;
G Rees - Scottish Conservative and Unionist. A Tory who once had a business in a nearby town!
C Rennie - Independent. Who? Appears to think the A9 has something to do with PKC
M Williamson – SNP. Not votable following two clownish predecessors from that party in the Ward…
I’m sure many will recall the many Ken Lyall/Ron Rose debates on here a while back. It would appear that he “who has campaigned to the Scottish Parliament about drink-fuelled anti-social behaviour” has just fallen foul of the law over his own drink fueled anti social behaviour!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-14479440
“A law student will miss the first few months of his post-graduate legal studies course after being jailed for drink-driving. Ronald Rose, 44, was locked up after being told by a sheriff he posed a danger to the public. . . . Rose, of Braco in Perthshire, admitted driving while three and a half times over the limit on 22 June. He was jailed for five months.”
It goes on to say: “Rose, who until recently lived in Aberfeldy, led a campaign against yob culture in the town and stood as an independent candidate for Perth and Kinross Council.” . . . ”In view of the fact it is your third conviction, and it is such a high reading, I have reached the conclusion that I am unable to deal with it any other way than by a custodial sentence. The safety of the public requires that I impose a longer disqualification than might otherwise have been imposed. Sheriff Fletcher also banned Rose from driving for five years.”
Your comments about Mike Barnacle’s resignation from the Lib Dem are completely opposite from the truth. He actually resigned because he thought that a local member ought to be supported by other group members at Development Control.
Planning decisions must not be party political according to the Councillors’ code of Conduct and Lib Dem party rules. Ironically he left because the party quite rightly refused to enforce a whip on such decisions, the exact opposite of Ken Lyle’s complaint about his party.
The Kinross Town Hall debacle which reflected badly on successive Councils came to the fore shortly after I was first elected in 2001; Mike resigned after the 2007 elections, enough said.
C’llr George Hayton
Ken’s Oot: oot the polis, oot the paramedics, oot the SNP, oot the council, oot tae lunch an’ oot the country.
If only he’d get oot the way and let us get someone IN!
Angry Margaret
With the Locus Centre now running the Town Hall, groups should be aware that no public liability insurance is in place for events.
W Leszke
I am often perplexed to see how the so-called canny Scots repeatedly accept at face value any large-scale plan trotted out by developers on the basis of the old mantra –‘local employment’
Reading how little has been done to put in place Trump’s much vaunted golf-resort plans for Aberdeenshire and that most likely it will be the lucrative and vast housing estate that will be built. I cannot help but think of the similar parallel plans for Taymouth Castle.
It was always evident on the Taymouth Castle Estate that only by being able to build hundreds of houses on the site would a developer put money into the scheme – on the back of ‘local employment’ of course. Though employment to service such schemes in fact rarely seems to be local.
It seems to me that any developer can – somehow – wade in and get planning permission for any large scale scheme in the Highlands if he promises it will bring in tourists and provide local employment, but I fear for the long term future of this superb, outstanding area. How wild will it remain, with planners, developers, government and population pressures forever knocking at the door?
Meanwhile trying to get planning permission to improve, restore or build just one house in the area is fraught with planning obstacles.
Frances Arthy, Wester Achloa
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School management information systems are commonplace thoughout the whole of the
This means that they own all of the intellectual property rights to any information recorded about their pupils, they get special reduced rates for using the system and a say in strategic development, through representation on a board of partners and Seemis managers. They also get a share of any profits, or ‘residue money’, as one council likes to call it.
It seems to me that the whole set up is designed to be ultra-convenient for education authorities, public servants and headteachers - but the rights of children and families to privacy and their risks of identity theft are but a small obstacle around which this machinery navigates, rather than a top priority.
There appears to have been no controversy about the conversion of Seemis to an LLP, in July 2010. In fact, there may well be a legal grey area about ownership of the data itself, where councils are merely customers and not partners in these systems.
Georgina Farron
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I live locally and participated in this year’s Etape.It seems to me that this was an act of pure cowardice. Hundreds of local people were out encouraging us and cheering us on and not one protestor to be seen. Why? Because these cowards prefer chucking nails out the back of a car when no-one is around. Do they think this will stop this race taking place?
Time to grow a pair of balls and step out of the shadows or move on.
Not ALL are welcome ! Distinctly unwelcome are the ‘Lycra louts’ who in their pre-race practice on the route made offensive gestures and hurled abuse at other road users. They seem to have preference for directing their abuse and gestures at women drivers. One such was my wife, who followed in first gear unable to overtake, 2 cyclists hogging the road for over two miles. They were fully aware of her presence and spread themselves further over the road at the wider parts to prevent overtaking. Two-fingered salutes and foul mouthed invective were directed at her when she finally managed to pass them.
They have now gone for this year, but their legacy remains:
- litter, especially the wrappers from their energy gel packs, many of which have blown, or been thrown, into fields and gardens;
- a stench of urine left by those too impatient to join the queue for a Portaloo, and who committed an offence that would ensure arrest if perpetrated in the street in Perth on a Saturday night;
- a feeling of resentment from locals whose property was entered and used without permission; and from those abused for having the temerity to expect to be able share the closed roads with the cyclists.
As ever the apologists’ mantra that ‘it is only a minority’ who act in this way will be used to defend the event and its participants. It is only a minority, but it has proved to be a significant and growing ‘minority’ year on year. Observation suggests that its members are primarily drawn from the ranks of the ‘serious cyclists’ and the ‘Lance Armstrong wannabees’ who in their minds are riding in the Tour de France and not through Highland Perthshire. The recreational cyclists and those busting a gut for charity are generally far better behaved.
The ‘minority’ argument might be more acceptable if those deploying it only intended to defend the well-behaved majority, but its real purpose is as an excuse for not dealing effectively with the cycling sociopaths.
B Henderson
‘….they (election candidates) will have to work much harder and build consensus among a wider group of voters than they previously might have done….’
http://commentonline.co.uk/general/AlternativeVotingCandidatesResponse.htm
What this really means is that they will have to try to be ‘all things to all men’ when electioneering. The result will be more election promises made which, if their party secures an absolute majority, will be conveniently ‘forgotten’ in power; or if a minority government or coalition results will have to be either dropped or compromised. (Sound familiar to any Lib-Dems out there ?)
As for working harder after being elected, ‘working harder’ is not a concept that politicians seem inclined towards. In recent memory the Holyrood ‘work-force’ had the opportunity to increase productivity by reducing the number of MSPs by about 20%. They eschewed this unique opportunity. To the politician, increased productivity is a concept applicable only to the governed, not to those governing.
Much is made by the Yes campaign that a THIRD of Westminster seats can be considered as ‘safe’ seats for one party; implying that this party’s candidate need not put much effort in to ensure victory. It is claimed that AV will reduce the number of ‘safe’ seats; some even claiming that ‘no seat will be safe’. In Australia, however, a country using an AV system, HALF of the seats are in the ‘safe’ category.
The No to AV campaign similarly places great emphasis on the fact that 60 countries use a ‘first past the post’ system, while only 3 use AV. Mere numbers are not a decisive argument either way. More significant is an examination of what AV has resulted in these 3 countries.
After three AV elections a military coup took place in Fiji. What part the voting system played in producing the conditions for this unfortunate situation is difficult to assess. What is certain is that the prospect of elections before 2014 is slim, and Fiji is not currently a beacon of parliamentary democracy.
Papua New Guinea elections are a shambles. A very large number of the (eventually) successful candidates receiving only 10% or less of the first preference votes; the winners only emerging after multiple re-allocations of votes.
In Australia, the AV ‘jewel in the crown’, 6 out of 10 electors want to abandon the system. It has also resulted in 11 far-right candidates being elected in Queensland under the AV system, compared to the 7 who would have been successful in a ‘first past the post’ system. The results produced by the last Australian election were such that the attempt to form a government post-election took 17 days of uncertainty, compared to the 5 day gestation period for the coalition produced by our imperfect and unfair‘first past the post’ system.’
On balance I would prefer either Jock or Hamish’s systems to AV. The fairness of giving a voice to the ‘None of the Above’ faction appeals to me; and the prospect of being able to reduce the numbers of MPs/MSPs/MEPs and councillors, thereby reducing costs and making the survivors ‘work harder’, is truly irresistible
Ben Henderson
Kinloch Rannoch
Has the Scottish Government gone completely mad or is this just a gimmick to catch votes in the May election. In these times of cutbacks and restraint in all areas, how can a sum of over £600,000 be made available to support a local cinema.
We in Aberfeldy have been fortunate to see a new community campus that offers facilities that are second to none, including cinema/theatre facilities. Having attended a presentation it is clear to me that it is more than adequate for both. Why do we need another facility of this nature with, I believe, a cafe? In town we already have five coffee shops and let’s not forget the facilities at the Locus centre.
Let us not forget the efforts to retain the Town Hall, a lovely building that has had a considerable sum spent on it while we waited on the new campus. It has its place alongside the school, catering for longer term set-up productions such as pantomimes and the Mod and ceilidhs and functions where a bar or catering facilities are required. It should be retained at all costs.
There are many more deserving areas of the town where money could be spent. Toilets were closed due to funding not being available, a major asset to tourists - and would have cost how much?
Canoeing and rafting is a big source of income and a major attraction in Aberfeldy and throughout Highland Perthshire, but day after day and most of the weekend we see Taybridge Drive cluttered with canoes, rafts, minibuses, trailers and even coaches, with participants often changing in the roadway. 100 yards west of Dunolly is a council owned area that could be developed for parking, launching and changing, thus allowing the residents of Taybridge drive some peace. Whenever improved infrastructure for watersports has been raised, lack of funding has been the objection.
The golf course, in a beautiful riverside setting and used by many walkers, would benefit from a clear path system to be developed so golfers and walkers could be properly segregated. This would enhance walking facilities around the town and improve safety.
I am not against a cinema in the town, as a boy I used to camp at Aberfeldy camp site and and attend the cinema. The recent successful introduction of a mobile cinema in town shows there is great interest to see popular films locally, and it would be lovely to see something done with the Birks building.
While I admire the energy and tenacity that the Friends of the Birks Cinema have put into the project so far, perhaps it is time to recognise that a lot of residents are appalled at the amount of money being spent and feel it is time to call a halt on this ludicrous spending on what is nothing more than an eyesore in the heart of town.
Ask yourself, is this cinema development worth an investment of well in excess of 1 million pounds.
Stewart McNeish
Aberfeldy
We were fortunate to live in the Pitlochry area during the 1990s and have visited many times since.
During a recent brief visit I stopped in Pitlochry for petrol and picked up your March 2011 “Comment” news magazine. I was horrified to read of the impending disruption to such a beautiful area which will be caused by the massive 68 turbine development by SSE. The development will devastate the local tourist industry and permanently dissuade many tourists from visiting the area.
Local opposition seems to count for nothing. The SNP government openly sides with the big business interests of SSE and seems to ignore the concerns raised by local communities. It seems quite extraordinary to me that the SNP government, whose objective is complete independence, should seek to destroy the livelihood and revenues of the country it hopes to independently represent. Quite counter productive.
How can Scotland become independent without the considerable revenues generated by the Tourist industry? Hopefully the people of Perthshire will express their views in the forthcoming poll.
I was also interested to read the comments by Victor Clements and Murdo Fraser. Both, quite rightly, express great concern regarding the ignoring of local views and the disruption of business by SSE. Murdo Fraser has expressed his opposition and disappointment that the development is going ahead. He has criticised Perth & Kinross Council’s handling of the affair and their reluctance to support those they are supposed to represent. Perhaps they are prepared to side with Mr Salmond in his obsessive desire to cover the Scottish landscape with these inefficient eyesores and their supporting grid pylons. Or perhaps they just do not have the gumption to stand up for their constituents. In any event they have failed in their duty.
Victor Clements does not appear to express opposition to the development but rather makes the excellent point that communities and business interests must band together to form an effective negotiating team. This is an important point to make as, having worked for many years in big business (not utility related), I am well aware that many large companies only pay lip service to those of their policies relating to “full consultation” and “local responsibilities” Why expect SSE to be any different? They only take notice when faced with a large
group determined to use all in their power to protect local people and industries complete with legal and media back up.
My sympathies are with the people of Perthshire in their efforts to find a way to live with the consequences of this development which will forever change their way of life.
Ian Campbell
Morland, Cumbria
As a regular visitor to and timeshare owner in Perthshire, with a little Walker blood in my veins, will you forgive me a posting on local matters?
Many thousands of people like me love to visit Scotland. We enjoy the kind of scenery and open spaces that are so rare in England. The unique architecture and history are unsurpassed. The people have their own singular style.
We visitors contribute to the local economy and in the case of timeshare are “owners”, but are unrepresented at any level of local government. Our timeshare alone has around 3000 weeks individually owned - that’s a lot of clout in economic terms, but we are silent in terms of representation.
I recall the Dall planning application at Rannoch with interest. It was a lunatic idea and was rightly rejected by Councillors in the face of overwhelming local opposition. However, even if/when it is rejected again on appeal, that will not be the end of the matter. The applicant clearly did not have a snowball in hell’s chance of succeeding with his original application, a fact known best to him. The application will return in watered-down form and the Councillors and locals will be expected to pass it while breathing a sigh of relief that the very worst excesses have been removed. It is a classic planning tactic. I used to work with the Campaign to Protect Rural England and saw it used, often successfully, many times. The people of Rannoch and Perthshire in general would do well to prepare for this event, expecting that it will be a long and drawn-out battle.
In recent years, I have been dismayed at the apparent determination on the part of those who control the quality of life in Perthshire, to strangle the ability of residents and visitors to enjoy the locality fully, or even safely. I see that there has been no progress on the outrageous situation where visitors to the Rannoch area have no doctor in attendance “out of hours”. I wonder how many potential visitors would be encouraged to stay if they knew that the “golden hour” for strokes and heart attacks could be spent waiting for an ambulance. It is a disgrace and is unworthy of your proud nation. Locals have been forced to take the matter to the Scottish Parliament and the High Court - let’s hope the authorities see sense before lives are lost. The petition for Judicial Review will take place in Edinburgh on 27th April at 10:00 am and the campaigners will be packing the public gallery.
Also in Rannoch, I see that the local tearoom and petrol station have been forced to close. Residents and visitors now travel to Pitlochry to fill their petrol tanks! These businesses were run as a co-operative and could be re-opened tomorrow if the will existed. Successful social enterprises like this are commonplace in England - what is stopping the local authorities from combining with local people to revitalise this business? It is a tragic symptom of the decline of an area we love.
I see that there is comment on other threads about the influx of foreign workers to the area. I know that, in Rannoch, the timeshare could not operate without them. We even had to buy a local house to use as accommodation, to attract them! It is a sad indictment that in such economic times we cannot attract enough local people to these jobs. However, in their absence we are grateful for those “foreigners” who pay their taxes and buy their supplies locally.
Perhaps the generally positive and friendly people skills of these foreign workers could usefully be applied at the Rannoch Station tearooms, where smiling staff behind a locked tearoom door ignored the knocking of a dozen travellers - including me - who would have liked to purchase tea and cakes at 2.30 in the afternoon on a weekday during our last visit in August 2010. Some of these travellers had walked miles to enjoy the refreshment and atmosphere of the place, to be greeted with the averting of eyes when we tried to attract the attention of staff. Sometimes, you can see why businesses fail.
Peter Mallon
HERE WE GO AGAIN!
Aberfeldy Community Council was critisised for getting bogged down with the public toilet issue (excuse the pun) in the past so I read with interest the report from Councillor Ian Campbell regarding the proposals to close toilets in Dunkeld, Pitlochry and other places with similair facilities. I will now sit back and watch the outcry which will now rear it’s head. Obviously Perthshire will be at a big disadvantage where tourists are concerned where there are no public toilets available.
Perhaps this is a ploy by PKC to keep all the tourists in Perth to prop up their budget shortfall. Some advice to all these communities - ACC tried everything to save our facilities (Petitions, meeting upon meeting, writing to Parliament, tour companies etc). Good luck to you all!
William Leszke
former ACC Chairman
A bit rich coming from a Lib-Dem, is it not ? R Murray |
I got on to Authoritywatch about the cutting down of the tree at the new campus and I have a message for Lyall, Howie and Campbell. I don’t like being ignored like this by councillors who take public money. So this May and next May the SNP and Tories will be ignored by me and the other two voters in my family. We will vote for anybody else rather than them.
Feldy Man
Brendan Murphy has put one side of the argument asserting the right to anonymity of contributors to Comment (Vol 30 No 11, Jan 2011) The Anonymity Issue for Whistleblowers
The other side of this argument is that anonymity can protect anyone who contributes personal opinions that may be malicious in intent, unfounded and even libellous.
No national or regional newspaper of any repute allows the publication of such unattributed articles and letters, and abdicating any ethical responsibility for such material, using only the criterion that “publication will not put at risk the continuation of Comment” is an unacceptable editorial policy unworthy of what is often a useful and informative local paper.
There are many chronicly ill people in this district and this exploits them unfairly. What have the local doctors got to say about it?
Angry Margaret
Aberfeldy Caravan Park Query Could P&K ‘organise the proverbial in a brewery?’ Unlikely on this showing !
Provided the rent is less than £26K per year, would it not be simpler and cheaper to the public purse just to shut down the operation and pay the rent direct to the Aberfeldy Common Good Fund ?
I’ve also heard that repairing flood damage has cost a significant amount. So whose bright idea was it to site a caravan park complete with electricity hook-up points on the flood plain of a river ? Perhaps a marina might be a better option for the future.
R Murray
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