Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Guano factory refused
From the Groat of February 4, 1921
Members of Wick Town Council refused permission for another fish guano factory, this one to be built at the South Head.
There was considerable discussion on the matter and opinions differed as to whether the development would be good for the town.
Local men Messrs Cowper and Macleod had hoped to be granted the same permissions as already given to others but objectors felt the amenities of the town's "favourite walk" would be spoilt by the smell from the factory.
Bailie Davidson said that these factories should not all be put at the east end of Wick and instead be put in other areas. William Miller stated that "if some of those who supported this new factory lived in the east end of the town they might change their views", adding that there were times when, such was the smell, residents couldn't open their windows to get fresh air.
Having refused the application, the councillors then turned their attention to an existing factory.
It was agreed to intimate to Messrs Christie and Semple that the smells from their premises must be dealt with in accordance with the promise made before the factory was erected – that there would be no odour.
Village speed limit plea rejected
From the Groat of February 5, 1971
The case for a lower speed limit at Lybster was dismissed again by the Secretary of State for Scotland.
A petition signed by 49 residents was taken up by local MP Robert Maclennan who supported the villagers in their bid to have a limit set on the A9 section of road which runs through the hamlet.
A limit had been sought for a number of years without success.
On this occasion a letter from the Under Secretary George Younger explained that there was no reason to disagree with the conclusion reached by the Caithness County Council, that conditions at Lybster did not warrant the application of a 40 mph limit and that a 30 mph limit would be "even less appropriate".
It was pointed out that police could not enforce speed limits on a round-the-clock basis and it was considered that given the free flow of traffic on the A9 at that point it was "extremely unlikely that a 30 mph limit would be respected".
Mr Younger added that the accident rate did not justify a limit – there had been no accident involving personal injury for three years and there had only been three such accidents altogether since 1949.
Cuts to Wick air service
From the Groat of February 9, 1996
Loganair flew into a storm of protest after dropping its service from Wick to Inverness and Glasgow.
The alternative to flying via Inverness would be a "nightmare seven-hour journey via Orkney".
The cost-cutting move had been condemned by local MP Robert Maclennan who called for a meeting with the airline's managing director Scott Grier after expressing his shock at the development which would leave local passengers waiting in Orkney for four hours.
He said that he could "not believe that any airline would contemplate a passenger take-up on such a service".
The existing schedule allowed passengers to travel from Wick at 8.25am, arriving in Glasgow via Inverness at 10.15am, with the return flight arriving at Wick at 5.45pm.
Loganair, which operated under franchise to British Airways, had reintroduced a daily Wick-Inverness-Glasgow service two years previously.
There were fears that the move would reverse the trend at Wick of increased passenger traffic and threaten the extra jobs required to cope with that demand.
Meanwhile, Wick community councillors expressed concern about an east-west divide when the new single-tier Highland Council took over in April.
Some were sceptical that the populations of Wick and Thurso would pull together for the greater good of the county.
But the Rev Alistair Roy said there was a genuine hope that Wick and Thurso would co-operate.
