Friday, January 25, 2013

" The first thoughts were, well, everything ends up down under the railway bridge" - community objections to the South Nairn plan - 3

On Wednesday night in the URC hall at the combined Nairn Community Council meeting with over 50 members of the public present, Tommy Hogg the Chair of the meeting and of River CC, gave his thoughts after Brian and Dick:

"What Dick has summed up is just exactly what Nairn River CC thinks. We’ve actually been engaged from the very start and originally when the application came up the first thoughts were, well, everything ends up down under the railway bridge. At the moment its nigh impossible to be thinking of another 520 houses to be going down there and the pressure put on that area is just going to be tremendous. The other thing we feel very strongly about is the fact that the bypass won’t be in place at the time so we find it very, very difficult to see how things are going to come out." 

It was a very impressive meeting and it conveyed authority, it conveyed the thoughts of the community. It had the air and the importance of the sort of meetings that were held by the Nairn District Council in the Courthouse.  After the three councils had spoken the debate was opened to the floor of the meeting.The planners were left in no doubt about the Community's feelings. 
More from this meeting later if time permits. 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can someone pleas explain how a by pass is going to alter the situation we already have have in this part of town?? Or is it hoped all traffic will head out of town? it's going to take more than a by pass to sort out the already chaos on the brae. We do need a by pass but can't see how it will re leave the problem of getting into town to do shopping or the school run.

gridlock said...

Money talks. It's true there are bottle necks under the railway bridge and at Leopold St, with a couple of other roads likely to take a hit for traffic when the building goes ahead, but look at the continued expansion at Lochloy with all the traffic that junction has to cope with. A poorer quality of life for some Nairnites but money in the pocket for both the developer and the council if the plans go ahead

Brian Turner said...

Is it my imagination, or did I remember seeing on a plan designating a new built ring road, including new vehicle crossing over the railway line - and that concerns were raised relatively recently that this "ring road" might be used in lieu of a proper bypass?

Graisg said...

Don't think it is your imagination Brian. Sheena Baker raised a point similar to yours. Seems such a road is out of the question in the current climate if my memory of Wednesday night serves me correctly. Might get round to that part of the proceedings at some point.

passer-by said...

@Brian Turner 9.39am. Just to add to Graisg's response.... This idea originally surfaced in the workshops organised some time back by the Scotia consultants and in the local discussions which followed.

The developers/consultants thought that if a bypass was not going to be built (or not for some decades...) then a possible interim alternative could be an "inner relief road" giving access from the A96 somewhere in the Tradespark area across to, and through, the Nairn South site. This would enable them to get on and build.

But the question of how a road bridge over the railway would be agreed and who would pay, was never addressed - and I think Council planners ruled it out.