Monday, June 24, 2013

Essential reading material for all students of Sandown matters- Westies write to the four Nairn Highland Councillors

The West Community Council have put into the public domain a letter they have written to Nairn's four Highland Councillors prior to the meeting in Inverness on Thursday that has profound implications for the future of the Sandown Lands. Their letter begins:

"The inclusion of an item about the Sandown Lands and Nairn’s Common Good on the Highland Council agenda, and the text of the associated paper (23/13) by the Director of Finance, have only just become publicly known and available – less than a week before the meeting.

We understand that, as elected Councillors, you have been in dialogue with Council officials about the way forward.  But we remain concerned at the complete absence of local consultation or discussion, and about the very short notice between publication of the officials’ recommendations and the proposed timescale for decision.

This is a serious and complex issue, of major importance to the community of Nairn.  We recognise the need to explore possible ways of resolving it.  But we have a number of concerns about both the process and the substance of the official recommendations.  We think the context has been insufficiently explained, and the options proposed are almost all inappropriate. "

We would urge all Gurnites who have shown an interest in the Sandown Lands issue over recent years to make a cup of tea (or pour a dram) and read the full letter from the West Community Council plus a detailed annex which goes into considerable detail on points around, 1) Conflict of Interst, 2) Timescale for Resolution, 3) Attribution of Responsibility, 4) Identification of Options. The letter is available online here and the annex here and we promise you that they are both a good read.

3 comments:

APTSec said...

Hi Gurn I did not realise when I sent out an email to my Nairn contacts highlighting this report that no one actually knew about this issue!

Graisg said...

Morning APT Sec, Yes thank you for forwarding the material, the issue is certainly out there now and I imagine it will be discussed at the Suburban Community Council meeting tonight and the West CC meeting tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure many of us would support the sentiments of the letter and the motion that the debt should be written off, however I wonder as to how we'd feel if our councillors (who represent us) were being asked to write off a large debt placed round the neck of another community in the highlands? Would we support them or in the current economic climate not want the debt shared?

The complexity of the Nairn issue will make it difficult for many people to fully understand the issue let alone vote fairly on it