Sunday, July 01, 2012

Dick on Development – “It’s not going to happen like it happened over the last 20 years”

Gurnites may be interested in part of Dick Youngson’s address to the AGM of Suburban Community Council last week"

"I think we should really think again about the type of housing we need in Nairn and the type of people that are on the waiting list and how we are going to fund that and develop it and run it because it just isn’t a case now of developers having free reign to put in what they want to make money. It’s really what we want. We want builders who are actually do want to work to us, the “us” being the community as well as Highland Council together . So I think a slightly different approach now is necessary over the next 5-10 years, Because it’s not going to happen as it happened over the last 20 years. Because the only way we are going to get funding and development and movement is by actually spelling out what and where we want a lot of new development. It equally applies to the development of the town and we’ve really got to make an effort to get the town well planned, desireable for traders to occupy property and bringing people in again. Otherwise Nairn as a tourist town isn’t really going to survive as such, it’s going to be very much a tourist town."

1 comment:

Brian Turner said...

No, it's not going to happen like in recent years - the financial crisis has seen to that.

However, there has always been a disparity between aspirations and ability - ie, those who want a vision for the town, and those with the budget to actually implement change.

So what is Dick actually thinking of now? Is he talking about a complete reassessment of Nairn South, and existing planned developments?

Considering how many years it took just to get the Highland Council to action changes to the old community centre and petrol station, what sort of changes does he realistically expect to implement?