Monday, July 20, 2009

Will the Common Good Fund become an election issue for Nairn's Highland Councillors?

Just back from holiday and catching up on the two missed Nairnshire Telegraph and the Gurnmeister has noticed both an article concerning Sandy Park's attitude to control of the Common Good fund and a letter from John Hart in response.
Briefly Sandy feels that the Common Good fund should stay in Highland Council control but he doesn't seem averse to consultation of some form with community groups.
There are those that tend to disagree with Sandy and a few of the town's community councillors and other public-spirited individuals have been researching Common Good issues to the extent that they are perhaps as equally or better informed on these matters as our local Highland Councillors?
The Gurn agrees with those that think there should be more local democratic control. With the best will in the world the interests and desires of the Highland Council will not always dovetail with the wishes of the people of Nairn. What could possibly be wrong, if the Common Good fund were but under the control of a democratically elected Royal Burgh of Nairn Community Council? Such an organisation may only be 12 months away from coming into existence. The Royal Burgh Council could also co-opt those many willing citizens with special skills and knowledge who are willing to help their community.
This issue will not go away and it is gathering momentum, it may become one of the main issues of the next local elections for the four Nairn seats on the Highland Council should any candidates emerge to challenge those four that make up the three members that represent the existing regime and the official opposition in the form of Liz
John Hart's letter has been published in the Nairnshire and also over on the Nairn Matters Blog.
Sandy's points are to be seen in the Nairnshire of July 7th. Why not go over to Nairn Matters, they will be delighted to hear your viewpoints on the common good issue.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whether or not Common Good becomes an issue at the next election it is worthwhile looking at the role and responsibilities of a councillor and the valuable contribution that you can make by becoming a local councillor. As with most occupations - value the job, appreciate the difficulties of the job and then look at how you would improve on it if you were given that chance.

Anonymous said...

Plus the big fat cheque,and all the goodies.

Graisg said...

Not if we are talking about Community Councillors, they come in at £0 each per annum as opposed to the other variety that start at around £15,000 basic?