Roddy MacLeod

Information Professional, now enjoying retirement.

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

@COSLA So what is the solution?

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

BBC News - Scotland's councils face budget shortfalls. How bad is it in your area? - BBC News
https://t.co/YUAeEWUHHR

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

Oban Times last week covered the ongoing saga of Argyll & Bute Council's plans to put traffic lights at the historic Clachan Bridge, which some people think will defile a national monument.

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

There is no need for another consultation on the visitor levy in Argyll & Bute. The Council should fix the potholes instead.

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

@alexmassie So wheesht for indy actually meant Wheesht for thieving

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

Visitor levy and why it would damage Argyll & Bute. Nothing material has changed, so there is no need for a 2nd consultation. https://t.co/Ne8hquJi1G

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

Argyll & Bute Council's traffic light works on Clachan Bridge described as a 'profanation' by French press. And they are right! It's a defilement of a national monument.

[redpillbot @redpillb0t]

Activist: "Your cows are putting carbon into the atmosphere."

Farmer: "Where did they get it?"

Activist: "What?"

Farmer: "The carbon. Where did the cow get it before it put it anywhere."

Activist: "From... eating?"

Farmer: "From eating grass. And where did the grass get it."

Activist: "The soil?"

Farmer: "The air. The grass pulled it out of the air last spring. The cow ate the grass. The cow breathed some of it back out. It went back into the air it came from."

Activist: "But it's still going into the atmosphere."

Farmer: "It's going back. There's a difference between a thing going somewhere and a thing going back. You've described a circle and you're frightened of it."

Activist: "Then just don't have the cow."

Farmer: "The grass still dies in autumn. It rots where it falls. The carbon goes back into the air either way, just without anyone getting fed in the middle."

Activist: "It's not that simple."

Farmer: "It's grass, cow, breath, grass. Or it's grass, rot, air, grass. Same circle, fewer dinners. If that's complicated for you I'd stay away from the water cycle. That one's got clouds in it."

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

@JohnWad84222151 Freedom For Seil (FFS) from bureaucratic bullying.

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

The 'Bridge over the Atlantic' and the struggle to stop the installation of traffic lights. https://t.co/A3UMVuizBN

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

Another Visitor Levy consultation? - Don't be daft!

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

Easdale Island house

[Fiona Campbell @FionaCampbell74]

Fiona Campbell MBE, Chief Executive of @ASSCnews, said: “There is zero evidence that Planning Control Areas increase affordable housing, reduce rents, or solve the housing crisis. None.

"@HighlandCouncil is attempting to sell the public a fantasy through this sham consultation while knowingly risking enormous damage to local tourism economies and small businesses.

"This is not evidence-based policymaking, it is political theatre."

The ASSC also accused Highland Council of disregarding established legal precedent.

"Despite repeated public assurances from councillors that existing operators have nothing to fear, the ASSC has spoken directly with officials who remain adamant that any secondary let within a control area will require planning permission because of mandatory Condition 13 attached to short-term let licensing."

This position flies directly in the face of the landmark Muirhead judicial review from 2023, which was successfully argued before the Court of Session.

If Highland Council requires 24,000 new homes across the Highlands by 2034, repurpose the 7,500 economically impotent empty homes and build some new ones. Don't damage a sector that represents £200m to the local economy!

https://t.co/PGyQ7OSZOv

#Scapegoating #Disingenuous #Unlawful #JudicialReview #LegalAction

@H_F_S @st_alliance @scothospgroup @SaveSCScotland

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

This is in a council area where the council already employs 33% of the entire working population!

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

@FionaCampbell74 A@BC regards STLs as 'ineffective stock' “... 421 have been brought back into active use (sold, let or occupied as a main home)…” and “13% of dwellings remain “ineffective stock”, including empty homes and self-catering conversions.”

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

@FionaCampbell74 @JackHouse My one is regarded as a second home by Argyll & Bute Council, appears on their stats as a second home, and I pay council tax not NDR, and I occasionally rent it out via Airbnb.

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

@rock_shamrock @Ross_Greer In his case, there is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

@FionaCampbell74 @Ross_Greer ScotGov's national study on 2nd & holiday homes in rural Scotland reported that residents often believed second homes were a main cause of housing problems, but data showed that the real drivers were demographic change, low build rates, and limited economic opportunity.

[Fiona Campbell @FionaCampbell74]

Take a listen to this:
https://t.co/60oARvCdB6

[Roddy MacLeod @libram]

Tax on second homes in rural areas is a bad idea.