Thursday, February 26, 2009

A single community council for Nairn – now just a question of how long will it take?

John MacKie, chair of the Suburban Community Council spoke last night of how he and fellow community councillors are being stopped constantly in the street and asked how things were progressing with the initiative to bring about a single entity for Nairn at this level of local government. He told the very well-attended public meeting that he was now going to seek the advice of the Highland Council ward manager as to the best way to bring this about. The meeting then became, for a short while, a de-facto campaign workshop with councillors and members of the public exchanging ideas on the way forward. It seems there will indeed soon be a request to revive the dormant West council in the town. As was pointed out, this objective and that of a single council for Nairn are not mutually exclusive, given that a West Council would also be campaigning for absorption into the new council. It was very refreshing to see such interesting, articulate debate from two dozen plus folk present who simply want the best for the town. It bodes well for the future when a single council exists, then Nairnites would no doubt want to back their flagship organisation to the hilt and the Gurn suspects there would be no shortage of citizens willing to commit their time, energies and talent. Let’s hope we soon obtain the return of a body that would be ,once again, the true civic heart of our community, a body capable of taking us forward into this new millennium in a way that would harness the creativity and pride we have in our community. Nairn is a great place, its citizens want to keep it like that, yes we are open to debate about progress, development, etc but make no mistake we demand an organisation that will represent us and us alone!
It could be that very soon there will be a public meeting calling for a single community council in the town and those that oppose the motion would be given the chance to give their side of the argument but the feeling seemed to be (correctly thinks the Gurnmeister) that the public would back the motion whole-heartedly. At present the unscientific survey over on the Gurn on Sunday indicates approximately a 76% level of support for a single council with a significant ‘couldn’t care less’ minority of 17% the rest being for the status quo. This digital journal predicts a single community council for Nairn within 2 years. As we approach the next Highland Council elections in 2011 it will be very hard for that organisation, and especially our four councillors, to ignore the will of the people. Although the Gurn is ignorant of the position of Sandy Park and Laurie Fraser on the issue it is obvious from a previous debate witnessed at the River Community Council that Provost Liz and Graham Marsden share the ambition of the majority.

The Royal Burgh of Nairn Community Council: RBNCC – bring it on!
Get involved Gurnites! – Let’s make it happen!

1 comment:

Nairn said...

Looks like Nairnites have a two horse race here - which will be first across the finishing line to open its doors, The Royal Burgh of Nairn Community Council or Sainsbury's!