Orkney Image Library

Another great idea from School Place. A pedestrianised car park!

I saw two cars in it the other day! Okay, one of them did have a disabled badge so didn't need to buy a ticket. The most I've seen in the fire station car park this week is six.

Keep up the boycott folks. I hope you're all parking in the free park at the council offices!

I wonder if they are all parking in that big free carpark off Mill Street.

They say they want to keep the town alive and keep people on the street.
Wait til Tesco gets going. FREE parking there. Come on OIC get your act together. Do something to help us.

yeah, so much for all the money it is supposedly going to raise for them. Another clever council decision.

To be honest, I'm neither up nor down whether this small car park is Pay and Display or not- but there are reasons for giving it a try as Pay and Display so why not?

I believe that it is empty because all the long stay parkers are parking at Powerbowl, or at the Shapinsay slip, or the Marina, none of which are even hundreds of yards away- which is fine as there is now short stay parking available here for people who want to shop at places other than Tesco, but can't otherwise as the Albert and Boots car parks are often full.

Face it, if the car parks next the street weren't restricted, they would be full of cars parked the whole working day, and that would really kill the street.

And if they are to be policed to stop long stay parking the cost of that has to be covered somehow- Pay and Display, or less money for services, are two options.

It's easy to criticise if that's all you want to do, but there are two sides to most stories and certainly that's true here. Look at the car parks next the pier- when it was suggested they were made Pay and Display there was uproar from Bridge Street that people wouldn't be able to get to VAO because of this. My experience was that it was dead loss trying to park there anyway as they were always full up of all day parkers- so in fact it would be easier to park nearby, and it's not big bucks to park for an hour.

So maybe these car parks should have been Pay and Display too- maybe not. But what do you do? Do nothing and say nothing if you want to avoid criticism. To hell with that- give it a try, and if it doesn't work it can always be changed.

Fair enough, no one can argue wae that, its a reasonable opinion. But what do you have to say about the council dragging its heels about making the east kirk car park pay and display as it would have a major affect on oic employees, I canna see any reasoned argument why it should take so long.

It wouldn't just have a major effect on OIC employees, it would have a major effect on the people living in all the streets nearby due to the displacement of parking, and they get a hard enough time as it is. In relation to that I have been pressing for consideration of permit parking in the surrounding, which would be welcomed by many of the residents, and in fact all of the ones who have made representations to me about the problems caused by OIC employee parking. So this may also have been a factor in holding it back.

Having said this, I agree that the change of status of the East Kirk car park has taken too long. However I accept that everything can't happen at the same time, and there has been a lot going on from the roads point of view. Perhaps it would have been better to be cynical and prioritise this in anticipation of cynicism from others. I'm not on R&T, but I understand that it will happen this year.

But to reiterate my earlier point, the council and councillors are getting pelters here for making one car park Pay and Display, and also for not making another car park Pay and Display.

No wonder you didn't stand again, anonymous ex councillor.

P.S. This is starting to fly in the face of my demand that the OIL is a happy place, and I apologise for that.

If there is more heat coming my way with following comments (and don't think for a minute I agree with eveything the council decides either, my vote is just 1 of 21...) I'll take the debate over to my kw15.co.uk blog, if that's ok.

Surely OIL should be a relatively emotion-free and quiet place? A bit of gentle fun is fine, but I don't think commenters (especially anonymous ones) should sound off about whatever happens to bug them at the moment. It's a library, not a soap-box.

Good grief Steven - I thought the life of an OIC councillor was all biscuits and giggles. How wrong I was ; )

[Since they reduced the fat in McVities Digestives my life has become a harsher and bleaker place- don't get me started on that... - Steven.]

I agree with Ian. This should be a friendly light discussion site. Although I am sympathetic to some of the points made, I feel that the place to air them, is in the local press.

Personally, I don't mind a bit of debate and banter, but what I would like even more would be suggestions for pictures for the Orkney Image Library Charity Calendar 2011, as I have just promised to have the selection made by the end of April, for launch in June. Willie Watters has made the suggestion that OIL contributors could have a get together and some refreshments when that happens, which sounds good to me.

And everybody present could buy loads of calendars for Christmas presents as well...

Surely the point of the Image Library is that the image makes the point.

Yes and it certainly has in this case