Highland MP offers help to fight fire regulation bills

Badenoch and Strathspey MP Danny Alexander has said that he will personally get involved to help local tourism accommodation providers facing huge bills to meet fire regulations.

The Lib Dem politician was commenting after the Strathy reported that owners of more B&Bs and guest houses in the strath were thinking of shutting up because they faced five figure bills in some cases.

Mr Alexander said: "The hotels and guesthouses are vital to our local economy, both as important business in their own right and in supporting the wider tourism sector.

"I have been working to help local businesses resolve their serious concerns with the fire regulations since they were raised with me.

"I met with senior officials from Fire Scotland this summer and have been in regular contact with them since then.

"I have also raised this with the Scottish Government, who are responsible for the policy. This is very urgent for the businesses concerned, and responses in some cases have been unacceptably slow.

"However, I am delighted that I have been able to help some hoteliers come to an arrangement with the authority, even though the process is still on-going for many others.

"I have contacted the fire office again to ask them to renew their efforts to come to a suitable compromise. I will keep working with local businesses to ensure this issue does not damage our local economy."

Some accommodation providers in the area are now considered "change of use" applications to scale down the number of letting rooms in order to escape the high cost of upgrading.

In some local cases this has been estimated at £20,000-plus.

The Strathy has spoken with accommodation providers across the area and heard a range of costings which must be met if enforcement measures by the Fire Service on behalf of the Scottish Government are to be avoided.

Not as bad as it seems...

One Badenoch businessman has bucked the general trend and suggested that the problem need not be as bad as it looks.

Mr Tony Brown, at Kincraig’s Ossian Inn, said: "It needn’t cost as much as it at first appears to upgrade to meet the fire precautions.

"Once the fire service has had its look you can have free inspections from the security companies – any decent one will tell you there’s no obligation involved – and then you can trawl the internet for the best prices of the equipment you’re needing.

"Then you find the best, and most economical company to do the actual work. It can save thousands and make the whole thing more feasible."

Some hoteliers are calling for government aid but Mr Brown was not so sure: "These are private businesses who want to make money and I’m not sure the taxpayer should be funding them.

"What I do think the government could do is create proper public advisers to help the people running hotels and boarding houses.

"One hotelier complained last week that the Firemaster was only an enforcer, who was not allowed simply to say what would do the job and where.

"If the government can happily have licensing officers going around, helping bars sort out their requirements, why can’t it have fire officers doing the same thing?

"It would save costs and time and be an enormous help to the industry, rather than just dishing out grants and interest-free loans to private businesses."

The fire service was still not available for comment.