Diary of a Shopkeeper, 21st December 2023

Having been immersed in Kirkwall’s 19th century history in recent weeks, it strikes me more forcefully than ever how the Victorian era still shapes our town. In some ways that’s a positive, as fine Victorian buildings like the Town Hall and fine Victorian businesses like The Orcadian, William Shearer’s and Kirkness & Gorie bring a sense of tradition and continuity to the street. In other ways it’s not so good, with one of the negatives being that our road infrastructure seems to be dangerously out of date.

I’m not talking about road surfaces, which are generally well maintained (though occasionally fraying at the verges.) It’s the inadequacy of the infrastructure to cope with the increased population of Orkney (which has grown by 3,000 in the past two decades), the increased volume of both tourist buses in the summer and delivery vehicles all year round, and the increased size of vehicles (roughly a quarter bigger and heavier in the past 30 years.) We’re living in an SUV world with horse-and-carriage-sized roads.

The economies of tourism and online delivery grow exponentially. Fashions in vehicle size move quickly and in one direction. It’s almost impossible for the slow, expensive and painstaking process of infrastructure improvement to keep up. Those responsible for such planning have my sympathy. Especially at a time when central government is reducing funding to local government.

However, sometimes School Place shoots itself in the foot, by introducing traffic-related changes that are detrimental to the county. Then sympathy runs short.

One recent example is the reduction of ‘first hour free’ parking in Stromness and Kirkwall from seven months of the year to three. Half of the cars that visit the town centre are here for 40 minutes or less, while their occupants carry out quick errands, whether buying a loaf or a lightbulb. For the thousands of visits that fall into this category, the removal of the free hour parking for every month except January, February and March pushes shoppers in one direction: away from the town centre and its local business, and into the arms of the big supermarkets.

In this regard, the council are working against the survival of the town centre, in pursuit of a fantasy figure. Will the reduction in ‘free first hour’ months really bring in an extra £89,976 in parking fees, as councillors were told when making their decision? Only if everyone who was going to park for free and nip in to The Brig Larder or Sutherland’s pays for their 20 minutes. But a large number of them won’t: they’ll avoid the town centre and take their business to a supermarket. Worse – they might take their business out of Orkney entirely and go online. Who can blame them! Have you seen the weather? But a local authority can’t just shrug in the face of gales and rain, and watch the town dwindle away. It should help local folk minimise the worst effects of the weather so they can use our towns frequently. How? By making parking free for that all-important first hour throughout the winter.

Living Lerwick (the Shetland equivalent of Kirkwall BID) point out that although Lerwick’s population is 6,680 compared to Kirkwall’s 7,380, they have 465 parking spaces compared to our 320. They have 387 free spaces, against our 126. It’s just my experience, I know, but I’ve never witnessed in Lerwick the congestion that I see every day in Kirkwall. Certain roads are notorious for having cars and vans jam-parked in great numbers, making it hard for the young and elderly to cross safely. 20-minute spots are occupied for hours by the same vehicles. Loading bays are filled half the day by private cars rather than delivery vans.

A lack of consideration for other users? Yes. But also a symptom of an underlying problem.

At the end of 2022, the OIC released their Roads Assets Management Plan 2023 to 2028. (Delightful reading for the festive season!) It includes a clear acknowledgement that, ‘traffic has significantly increased such that many of our roads carry traffic far in excess of what they were designed for.’ Worryingly, ‘degradation and damage repair to roads, verges, drainage, signs, lighting etc., contribute to the rate of deterioration of the road network and therefore a structural backlog that is outstripping the available budget for annual maintenance.’

And that’s not a shortfall in funds for much-needed improvements, just basic maintenance. I don’t know where the council will find funds to upgrade our roads infrastructure. But the peanuts raised by cutting free parking certainly won’t do it. It’s time for a radical and long-term plan for upgrading Orkney’s road infrastructure. New year: new traffic management strategy!

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 27th December 2023. A new diary appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations., and occasional small corrections or additions.