Hopefully the new ramp into McColl’s in the Square in Strathpeffer is just a temporary fix awaiting a much more attractive solution, but at the moment it looks a complete dog’s dinner.😧 Once-upon-a-time Strathpeffer was an elegant Victorian Spa village where people thronged to take the waters – not any more. Whoever did the job on the ramp outside the entrance didn’t notice, or care, about the cobbles carefully arranged in a Peacock tails design, that they poured the concrete over.
I’ve read in Facebook that sadly the lady who has been juggling both the running of the Shop and Post Office is now leaving. She has been sadly unappreciated by Morrison’s, who I think now have taken over McColls, and it does make you wonder about the viability of the shop and the Post Office in the future.
The “ramp” as it is at the moment will be a slip hazard in the ice
Never mind slip hazard! It’s lethal in the dry! Cannot possibly conform to building control regs which I think specify a maximum slope of 1 in 13 for wheelchair access ramps. Sloping steeply in 2 planes is asking for trouble! Much worse than it was before for everyone!
Oh dear, good to have a ramp, bit what a shame about the concrete over the cobbles. Hopefully it will be easy to remedy that when the new ramp is installed?
I cannot see that this ‘ramp’ conforms to any set of standards for a publicly accessible building nor a village with conservation considerations. Also I doubt that anyone who uses a walking aid such as a Rollator, a wheeled-chair user, pram pusher, or lower limb arthritis sufferer would manage to get up to slope let alone get down safely. I applaud the intent and practically I could do no better myself; it is the responsibility of McColl’s /Morrisons to manage the shop responsibly – in every aspect including staff support.
So much for the ‘preservation area’ status granted to this part of the village, I would have thought a ramp in a public place would require the business to seek planning permission and for the ramp to be of a certain specification. It really goes beyond belief that someone turned up, mixed a bag of cement, and made this mess thinking it was acceptable, especially at the entrance of a busy shop.
McColl’s should be closed until this shambles is made safe. The matter of someone losing their mobility or sustaining an injury is nothing new to the shop. Previously an elderly but very much active resident and member of the community lost her mobility, her social life as well as her ability to drive because the shop owners then decided that the entrance didn’t need a replacement for a broken tile. The then-shop owners used cardboard and tape to fill the void, which resulted in a broken hip, which she broke again during convalescence in her own home, robbing her forever of the mobility she treasured.
It is time the community council or whoever in the village is charged with raising such matters at the appropriate place did so, and while they are looking around the square they may want to look at the other businesses that flaunt planning. One they may want to start at for instance is the deli which has turned its corner into a storage area/mess which serves alcohol from a converted horse box (that now looks like a permanent feature) outside their premises (their license is to sell from the shop). They may want to look towards the cordoned public area with alcohol advertising facing an area that children regularly frequent, I am sure this was not agreed upon in the terms of the alcohol license for their business. Or they may want to look at the signs on pavements that impede those with disability and visual impairment and are out with the standards of a preservation area.
Shocking state of affairs for the village, this kind of activity may enrich some but not the village and certainly not the appearance of the square.
On a similar note – the railings up from St Anne church have still not been replaced in well over year after being wrecked by a car crashing into them – but I bet the car that did it was fixed pretty smartish😖
Way off topic…
You take your life into your own hands when walking down to (or back up from) Castle Leod along the A834. Just one slip of the steering wheel from any driver heading to Dingwall at 60 mph, whilst looking at their mobile phone or sat nav and you can kiss this world goodbye. I can’t beleive anyone in their right senses would have ever designated that short stretch of road to Fodderty a 60 mph zone, it’s now little more than a drag strip.
All of these little things add up to de-value the character of the village – at a time when everyone does not want the pylons to do that on a bigger scale and is making the case for the importance of our conservation status. Is there perhaps a fund that the Community Council could access to make good the rails etc and assist the shops to have what they need ramps /storage etc. in a more designed way?