Crisis Stornoway Regeneration Meeting – Monday 29th April
Shoppers are being driven out of the town centre of Stornoway – not least by the lack of morning newspapers. All the central newspaper outlets report trade is down by at least 15% and the town centre is said to take on the atmosphere of “a ghost town” at times. Sadly, several businesses may fail soon.
Suspicion is mounting, despite the council and the airline’s strident denials, that newspaper flights were quickly axed by carrier Loganair in a tit-for-tat reaction to the comhairle’s recklessness in halting funding for some inter-island flights. Who can blame the airline? There was no proper consultation. It just wasn’t thought through by people who are well paid to think things through. The councillors failed to implement those savings that could be safely done without a lethal knock-on effect. Apparently, they had warnings on this one, but we are not allowed to know the detail.
Now the regeneration group which is supposed to boost the town is inviting traders and others to a meeting to discuss the black future of a teetering town. The crisis meeting – which, of course, will be officially denied as being anything of the kind – will be held in the Caladh Inn on Monday 29 April at 7.30pm. Someone has run out of ideas, a source says.
Councillor Angus McCormack, chairman of the group, announced: “We have sent invites to various businesses and other parties in the town centre. However, the meeting is open to anybody with an interest in how to develop the future of Stornoway.
“We will introduce people to the work of the regeneration group but will also have a presentation from the Oban Business Improvement District and from Jane MacIver, chief executive of the Stornoway Port Authority.” Oban, of course, has many fine attractions to draw people into the town – including morning newspapers and a customer-friendly parking policy.
Cllr McCormack’s proclamation was that the vision of the Stornoway Regeneration Group was “to enhance the viability and vibrancy of Stornoway town centre”. It then blabbed on with a string of meaningless jargon-ridden phrases about “long-term outcomes to include an economically active and vibrant town centre” and “a unique and identifiably Hebridean sense of place”. Oh my God, what nonsense. It’s the same impenetrable, arrogant and self-serving bilge they were coming out with 10 years ago There was, of course, not one word about the how crazy policies over the last decade had actually made sure their promised Nirvana will never actually come to pass.
Tragically, as the councillor was trumpeting the Monday meeting, he seemed to have no space for an explanation of what was being done by anyone to restore morning newspapers to draw actual real live human beings back into our wretched, dying ghost town.
Of course Councillor McCormack’s failure to acknowledge the absence of newspapers as an important factor had nothing to do with the fact the council leader runs various shops that sell newspapers until late at night – well after the town centre shops have shut after selling papers for a mere two or three hours. Nothing at all to do with that. Just wanted to make that clear.
He also failed to mention that he and his colleagues are now utterly mad and have imposed a catastrophic new, aggressive car-parking strategy on Stornoway. The traffic warden is now forced to divert from the highway to patrol a council car park and issue draconian fines to those poor unwanted shoppers who dare to stay past their allotted time in Perceval Square. After 10 years pondering what to do, is this really Mr McCormack’s brilliant plan to make a shabby, crisis-hit town visitor-friendly? Yep, this is the crazy world these guys live in. We haven’t heard one of them speak out against this dreadful and unwarranted misuse of police resources, that’s for sure.
Yet another poorly-thought out move by comhairle bean-counters and brain-dead councillors that, traders tell me, is helping kill off business in Stornoway. Being hounded out of the car park by a traffic warden – even though she is a very nice person – is already making sure most drivers avoid the centre even more than before. They just go home to the internet. You know what – I’m beginning to suspect that may be what certain dodgy people secretly really want.
We’re all in it together, maybe. But some of them are in it for themselves. There is nothing surer. Well done to all of us who voted these guys back in.
