Shoppers in Inverness city centre may have seen the local business improvement district mini gritter, something more likely in evidence in recent days after costs led it to develop its own service.
The scheme dubbed Smart Scape by Inverness BID was match funded with the Inverness Common Good Fund in 2022 and 2023 after a private contractor quote for three days work came in at over £22,000.
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Since then the investment has stopped but BID kept the project going at a lower level to “remove stickers, graffiti, and fly posters, power washing key areas such as under benches or other hard-to-reach spots”.
It also has a mini gritter that it asked the public to help name with the eventual winning entry coming from Aimee MacMillan in December who suggested ‘Gritsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Anti-Slip Machiney’.
The move to augment regular gritting – BID underlined it was not a replacement for local authority efforts – came after a woman suffered a nasty fall on Falcon Square and the recognition that not everywhere can be gritted by the council.
Now the service is open to businesses within the business improvement district who can call the Inverness BID offices to request the service.
A BID spokeswoman said: “Smart Scape is one of our legacy projects, initially part-funded by Inverness Common Good Fund in 2022 and 2023. While external funding has now ceased, businesses have valued the service, so we’ve continued it on a smaller scale under our general operations, including for rapid response.
“The project is overseen by BID ambassador and operations co-ordinator Janice Worthing. It focuses on providing supplementary activities to keep our city centre safe and tidy – removing stickers, graffiti, and fly posters, power washing key areas such as under benches or other hard-to-reach spots, spills, and repainting doors with business permission where needed.
“It’s a BID and business-led initiative, separate from and in addition to the core services provided by the council teams.
“Following reports of falls in Falcon Square and at the bus station, the latest proposed activity – yet to be operational – is that the Smart Scape Team will have the ability to assist with targeted gritting on a small scale, as an interim solution until broader measures are in place.
“We are delighted with the publicly chosen name for our device and hope that ‘Gritsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Anti-Slip Machiney’ will soon be out and about during inclement weather once final checks and assessments are completed.”