Friday, October 08, 2010

Nairn town centre issues being driven by Inverness?

Duthie Hay was at Wednesday's meetings too, here's what he said:

'I would suggest this is being driven by finance. Somebody in Inverness is being putting pressure on this piece of land to provide some income. This is why we’re getting what I think is a fairly rushed affair short timescales this is a thing it’s not just one generation it’s generations to come that this is going to be here for. Flats is, I don’t know, it’s the quick answer but it’s the wrong one.'

9 comments:

mg said...

The new restrictions on the High Street will result in even less parking spaces so why not go the full length and pedestrianise the High Street and demolish the redundant buildings and provide improved/landscaped car parking clearly visible from the A96 - this would create a traffic free shopping street with easy access to car parking and remove the current eyesores.

Simple or what?

Unknown said...

Duthie is probably right. Most decisiona are driven by finance one way or another.

nairnbairn said...

We need to have clearly on record Sandy Park's response to this point - where he said firmly and publicly that there was no such pressure.

If that is so (and Sandy Park is surely a man of honour and integrity whose assurances we can rely on...) then the decision on what to do about the town centre site does not need to be driven by how much money might be realised, and how soon, from its sale to developers.

It also means that there does not have to be an immediate decision. Nobody in their right mind sells off a valuable asset at a time when the market is severely depressed. It therefore makes no sense for the Council to rush into offering this site for sale to developers when they (and their banks) can't raise the money to pay decent prices or invest in quality development.

Rather the policy on what happens to the Nairn town centre site HAS to be based on what will most effectively revive and regenerate the town centre. That discussion still has a long way to go.

We must not allow the future of Nairn's town centre to be decided by short-sighted officials, short-term planning, and the prospect of a small one-off contribution to the Council's budget shortfall.

As Bill Shankly of Liverpool said in another context. "This is not a life or death matter - it's more important than that".

Quite so. What happens on this town centre site will determine whether Nairn lives or dies in the next 10-20 years.

In mourning said...

NAIRN it is with great sadness that we announce the sudden death of our beloved Nairn who will be sorely missed by all, a good friend to many, who fought the battle bravely & with great dignity but Father Time has caught
up & the heart beats no more.
All friends respectfully invited
but no councillors please.
further arrangements published later later

Anonymous said...

Will it be in the Nairnshire.?

Graisg said...

I'm sure it will anon plus the Scotia Homes gig that also took place on Wednesday night. That will be interesting too. My 40p is already in my pocket getting warmed up.

with deepest sympathy said...

It was very sad to read about the death of Nairn as a friend I knew for a long time that its not been in the best of health, but i will always remember the good times we had. RIP

Anonymous said...

Nairn suffered from the terminal illness brought on by centralisation, firstly losing its identity and sadly eventually fading away with barely a whimper.

Anonymous said...

The death of Nairn!!!!!!!!!

What about everywhere else in the Highlands?

The area around Inverness and Nairn must grow in order to produce a trickle of prosperity to all other areas across the Highlands.

The population of the Highlands is increasing but the numbers of elderly are increasing at the fastest rate, so things must happen quickly in order to put as much as possible in place during the course of this administration.

We need new investment to compensate for the widespread predicted loss in public sector jobs as well as securing as many as possible of the public sector jobs.

The new airport business park will bring jobs very soon, and the University will bring us new young people who will choose to stay and we will also keep those young people who would otherwise leave. The new town at Inverness East will pump investment in and bring lots of affordable housing and plenty of shops. The new addition to the exisitng retail park will facilitate a diversity of retail experience in this area.

Inverness Town Centre will prosper, not decline as the naysayers would have us believe thanks to the forthcoming city vision.

Get real folks, we must expand and urbanise or die. We must build and sell much smaller units in order to still balance the books.

Oh and stop moaning about not being consulted most of you do not take an interest until it is too late to do anything about it anyway.

It is a fact that barely anyone will bother to write in about the local plans. Oh and I look forward to barely anyone bothering to take an interest in what their local community council is doing either.

And for goodness sake stop wingeing on about increased traffic, so what, other places have problems too, it is a natural consequence of prosperity and a few extra minutes on a journey is a small price to pay for investment.