Highland Council wind turbine planning decision

Highland Council Planning Committee finally decided, with only 8 councillors present, not to object (by a vote of 6-2) to the 33-turbine windfarm proposal for Dunmaglass Estate, near Loch Ness, 15 miles south-west of Inverness. The issue, because it is a major project, will now be decided finally by the Scottish Executive (aka 'Scottish Government').

Reading some of the reasons for non-attendance at this crucial planning committee meeting given by various of the councillors (see linked article above) reads like the apochryphal 'excuses' given by those wishing to avoid jury service! In any case, I think the project should go ahead, even if I think we are fooling ourselves if we believe that nuclear power is not the real way forward. I certainly don't have the objections on aesthetic grounds to wind-farms that some say they have as I think modern wind-generator towers are very attactive and quite elegant in their form - I see quite a large wind-farm far in the distance from my Nairn home whenever it is reasonably clear and I think it adds to the interest of the landscape.

Asda gets go-ahead for superstore in Inverness

The Scottish Executive (aka 'Scottish Government') has apparently granted Asda outline planning permission to open its superstore in Inverness at Slackbuie. At long last, 'Tesco Town' will have some serious competition to back-up the Morrisons outlet near the Eastgate Centre.

Tesco currently has three outlets in Inverness (with permission already granted for a fourth). Other supermarkets operating in Inverness include Lidl (with plans to open a second store), Aldi and the Co-op.

For Asda it will be its first store in Inverness and in the Highlands - the nearest store currently is in Elgin. As with the Asda application, the application by Sainsbury to open a supermarket in Nairn (also its first in the Highlands - nearest is in Aberdeen) was 'called in' by the Scottish Executive (aka 'Scottish Government') following its approval, against planning officials' recommendation, by Highland Council; a public inquiry was held recently in Nairn and it is hoped (by me and many others in Nairn) that Sainsbury will soon be granted approval to go ahead with this much-needed food retail outlet.

Tesco gets planning approval for 4th Inverness store ...

... amid dissent within the Council, silenced by the planning committee chairman.

Now, does anyone think this planning committee decision affecting Inverness will be 'called in' by the Scottish Executive (aka 'Government') as was similar council approval for a Sainsburys in Nairn? Of course, 'over the border' in Forres (i.e. Moray, rather than Highland Region) supermarket chain Lidl seems to have been able to move with remarkable speed.

What is it about Nairn? Mind you, things are not advanced here (in my humble opinion) by the rather 'beggar thy neighbour' attitude of too many Nairn residents, groups of whom have 'successfully' (if that is the right word) blocked most commercial developments in the town for decades, never mind years!

Inverness and supermarket corporate manoeuvring

Asda is enlisting the help of local councillors to try and overcome an expected veto by planning officials on its plans to develop an outlet in Inverness.

There have been complaints in the local press in the last few weeks that Tesco is once more exploiting its quasi-monopolistic position in Inverness, amongst large supermarket outlets, by charging higher prices for petrol than in nearby Elgin (about 40 miles away); in my personal experience this has been an off-and-on phenomenon for at least 10 years. Elgin has both a large Tesco and a large Asda outlet.

Tesco now have three outlets in Inverness - a very large 'extra' store, a quite large store not very far away in the former premises of the Co-op (*) and a smaller (but still of a decent size) outlet on the other side of the river in what were formerly the premises of William Low, the Dundee-based superkarket chain which it acquired some years ago.

Personally I think that Inverness could do with some real competition for Tesco in the supermarket field; currently the market is split between the three Tesco stores, one quite large Morrisons (formerly the Safeway store) and two largish stores (a Lidl and a Co-op), but both are located in parts of the city with relatively poor transport infrastructure, near the road out to the canal and Beauly.

According to one of the people quoted in the first article I link to above, people travel from areas such as Darnleigh in Inverness to Elgin so they can shop at Asda; I myself used to make a trip to Elgin at least on a monthly basis for just this purpose when I lived at Culloden, a suburb of Inverness and now that I live in Nairn (fifteen miles closer to Elgin) I still make the trip at least on a monthly basis.

Since the new southern by-pass has been built in Inverness a few years ago it is now much easier to get to the area where Asda hope to build their new store and it is significant that local councillors for districts in the vicinity say they are in favour.

There is a meeting of Highland Council's Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey planning applications and review committee tomorrow, Tuesday 12 June 2007, at 10.30am at Highland Council headquarters where Asda will apparently give over part of its allocated time to community council representatives. I have no especial love for Asda, but I do believe that this area (not just Inverness as people in the surrounding towns often travel to Inverness to do a 'bigger' shop) needs some more robust competition for Tesco than Morrisions is able to supply.

(*) Many people think, me amongst them, that a major probable reason for Tesco acquiring the former Co-op store at Inshes some years ago was with the specific intention of trying to keep Asda out of Inverness.