A view from Councillor Bill Boyd
I TOOK a walk around the city centre, just to get a feel for the experience visitors and residents are having right now.

What a mess. It makes one sad. This used to be a very pleasant provincial town. Now the narrow streets are just a confusing clutter of cones.
Where we have run out of red and white plastic cones the relief is in the shape of red and white plastic barriers.
It is not obvious how this contributes to safety – either road safety or social distancing safety.
At the changeover pinch points it is obviously more dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users, on both counts. It’s also frustrating and distracting for motorists.
Signage is incomplete and difficult to understand.
This shambles will make it much more difficult for the city to recover from the virus emergency. Yet again we are wasting money doing things that will make things worse when there are many simple things that could be done quickly and inexpensively to make it safer for people in our city centre.
One local resident said to me today that “someone in our council administration may be having a nervous breakdown”. I do not necessarily agree entirely with that sentiment but there is something seriously wrong with the decision making process and scrutiny of it.
Common sense seems to have been abandoned.
Virus infections are not over.
Our peak may well be still to come. We still need to be careful as we lift the lockdown. I really doubt if this is the best way to do it to keep people safe.
Very glad at least one person has a brain the Highland council,and see that this is keeping people away from the city center.
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It does seem a bit strange that great expense is incurred in setting up all these cones and barriers to allow for social distancing and alfresco dining, whilst on the other hand the pubs are packed with people showing absolutely no regard for social distancing.
I think the guidance on wearing masks in shops etc should be extended to include city centre streets, and then the safety barriers etc could be removed.
Pubs also need to be required to control the numbers of people entering their premises to at least try to allow for some social distancing.
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Councillor Boyd seems to forget it’s the local councillors that make the decisions not anyone else so if he wants things to change he and the other councillors need to make a decision Could take some time from previous examples of how that works!!!
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