Charrette final session in the Golf View

Oor Sandy once again introduces Jim MacKinnon, the Chief Planner to the Scottish Government.

It was quite a meeting with Jim answering some awkward questions that led to some lively debate. There were a couple of no-nos from the beginning however. Sandy started: " I think we are all aware that Sandown is Common Good land, we're not going down that road tonight, if there are any issues with common good land we are not discussing any issues anyone may have. There's a meeting on Monday night with the community councillors so we'll be discussing it in full on Monday night. So we will not entertain anything regarding the legalities or otherwise of the Common Good."

Jim stated that he understood that there were anxities about the Common Good: "As the Scottish Government we have no locus with this and from what I've seen from correspondence that has passed my way I guess that this is something that could well end up in court."

Jim outlined the other no-no too: " The other point I made and I made it a month ago in the town house, we're not revisiting the principle of development on Sandown or anything else in this area, that has been established for quite some time and it has been through a development plan examination, the reporter recommended basically endorsement of everything that was in the Highland wide local development plan. Some of you may well disagree with that, well the reporter's recommendations are binding and as I undstand it Stuart (turning to Stuart Black) you'll be taking it to the council for final endorsement as the second local development plan and the most up to date local development plan in Scotland. So revisting some of these debates really isn't on the cards."

The planning high heid yin then went on to open the debate: "What I do want to do tonight is having heard from Tim is really asking two questions. How was it for you? Is this a better way of doing business than the council say here is the plan what do you think of it? Were you able to contribute effectively to the process. Were there barriers that you felt in terms of the timing of events? I know that people were concerned at the last meeting that there wasn't sufficient notice. So I kind of think yes, we need to learn from some of the successes but also maybe we want to learn from things that maybe haven't gone so well too. At the end of the day however inclusive you find the process or however bad, at the end of the day what you will judge this by is the quality of the development that arrives in Sandown. That is the ultimate test."

There then followed a presentation by Tim Stott who showed drawings slightly amended from the previous versions and he made a plea for those present not to try to undo all the work that had gone into the charrette so are and to suggest fine tuning in the future rather than radical change and to put in what everyone could agree on but to leave flexible those areas where was presently no agreement. This observer found one part of what Tim had to say extremely interesting, he spoke on the taboo subject of the common good fund but on in the sense of its relevance to planning. He said, "It's worthwhile that the common good retains an interest, an ongoing interest in the site, we talked about a design code and one way to enforce a design code is the for the landlord if you like, it is far easy to enforce a design code if it is written into the title rather than relying on planning conditions to do that."

Tim also spoke about long leases rather than selling off the entire site. He also suggested what might be a solution for the complaint that local people are not getting their fair share of affordable housing that is built in Nairn. He said, "If you a benevolent local landowner then the Highland small communities housing trust can actually have an allocations policy that favours local people. If you are getting government grant aid for affordable housing then the allocations policy has to be on the basis of need but if you have a benevolent local land owner and a housing trust involved that doesn't rely on government hand-outs then you can alter the allocations policy in favour of local people."

After Tim's presentation Jim made reference to the unsatisfactory situation the community faced with Deveron's application for 550 houses and then opened the meeting to comments and questions. John Hart said that Sandown had been allocated for 100 houses originally to which Jim responded: "I'm always very nervous about the arithmetic of housing supply and demand, what we are trying to create is get quality out of..." He was then interrupted by laughter from a small section of those present. At this point he was pretty firm and told those amused by his comments:

"It's all very well sniggering and all of that, there are some serious issues here, we are trying to transform the planning system, there are more opportunities for public involvement in planning, guaranteed by statute than any other area of public policy and this a genuine attempt by the council to do things differently, and what I want to know is, you may have reservations about the principle of development but that debate has been had, as a way of influencing how this area was developed, do you think this was a good way of going about it."

More later

Sandown Charrette gig - Golf View tonight (weds) 7.p.m

The maps are on display and the plush seats have been brought out for the occasion and Tim Stott was fielding questions from the Highland Press Corps. It kicks off at 7.p.m and more details are available here.

Word on the street is that some of the usual suspects may be asking one or two tough questions tonight. Jingle Bangles our investigative reporter has been following up rumours that one or two folk are tooling up for a stushie down at the Golf View tonight and has discovered what could be a secret training camp up the riverside.

Tommy happy with Charrette, Simon “A bit of concern"

Tommy opened discussion on the Sandown Charrette at the River Community Council meeting last night, he said:”It went down very well over the four days, and the chap that came from the Scottish Parliament, Jim Mckinnon, he was really up for getting things to happen. Over the four days it was so informative, it was very well done and a large amount of people turned up. I was very impressed.” Tommy then told the meeting that Jim McKinnon was coming back for the ward forum meeting in the Golf View on February the 29^th with the end product.

Graham Marsden then added that the drawings would be open to public view in the Golf View from 3-7 p.m.

Simon Noble said: “One of the things I’d like to express a bit of concern about is, I went along to one morning session and though it was being run extremely professionally, and like Tommy I was impressed by the event, however I was also struck by the fact that there wasn’t anyone younger than me in attendance there and from what I understand there wasn’t throughout the whole of the four days. So it is clear to me that the representation of Nairn was singular and not broad. So I think it is misleading on the basis of the charrette to describe the shape that is presented to the developer as being something that is endorsed by the people of Nairn.

Ian Gordon critisced the publicitiy for the event and said, “They did not go about it correctly.”

Liz then spoke: “It’s going to be an ongoing process of development, they’ll stage in development, parts of it, stage by stage. We’ve already agreed that the allotments can go ahead and that will be going to the March Highland Council committee. We’ve got that plan, but that’s not the end of it, it’s only the beginning.”

Sandown Development Brief - info on Highland Council website

Highland Council state:

We will be accepting comments on the masterplan up until Wednesday 29th February 2012. To get in touch, please e-mail devplans@highland.gov.uk or write to:

Director of Planning and Development
The Highland Council
Glenurquahrt Road
Inverness
IV3 5NX

There's also another meeting coming up this month

"We will be holding a ward forum on Wednesday 29th February 2012 at the Golf View Hotel, Nairn to discuss the brief. This will comprise a public exhibition from 3pm - 7pm followed with a public meeting at 7pm."

That meeting will see the return of Jim McKinnon, Chief Planner to the Scottish Government. As we said before, a very interesting mannie is Jim - worth getting down to the Golf View for in this observer's opinion. Scroll down the Gurn to see what he had to say in the Courthouse last week when the Charrette kicked off.

There is a drawing on the Council webpages but if you want to see other drawings that helped make that one up then you can view them on the Gurn flickr pages.

More on the Highland Council web site.

"You could actually shape the future of Nairn if you do this properly "

Another extract from the speech by Jim McKinnon, Chief Planner to the Scottish Government, when he opened the Sandown Charrette last Monday night:

"I’m not very keen on the term charrette, to be perfectly honest, and I wish I could find something better. And trying to explain to the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary what a Charrette was, wasn’t that easy and trying to get him to commit to it, but interestingly our ministers have got really interested and enthusiastic about it. They see it as a really good way of engaging with local communities. It is interactive in which the public and local professionals work directly with the design team to generate a specific master plan.

You guys have probably been used to Highland Council coming along and saying here’s a plan what do you think of it? You might be used to a developer saying here’s a plan what do you think of it? This is very different, this is a plot of land, a large plot of land. I was astonished how big it is. It’s allocated for development. You could actually shape the future of Nairn if you do this properly or you can just do it on a site by site basis and that I’m afraid is what we’ve done far too often in the past. So the starting point is the site, its technical constraints but also its opportunities. What views across to the Black Isle and down to Inverness! It’s an absolutely fabulous place in which to create something that bit special. So that’s the key thing to remember about a charrette, Julian, Catherine, Janet, they’re not actually coming with fixed ideas on this. OK, no one is coming and saying this is the way it is going to have to be developed. We’re expecting you to input to the Charrette how you think it’s going to be developed. But it is against the background of the principle of development has been established for ten years on this site."

Pictures here of the results of the process so far from the drawings on the Courthouse wall on Thursday afternoon.

Sandown Charrette continuing input and consultation

Quite a few articles on the Gurn this weekend, scroll down the page to see them.

One of our readers who has concerns about the Charrette has asked us to point out that there is still the opportunity for everyone to comment on the proposals and plans.

Our regular reader reminds us that the Highland Council's architect Tim Stott still welcomes all kind of comments and ideas. He will put them into the draft paper which will be introduced at the Ward Forum. They suggest the deadline for all ideas and opinions from the community is “before” the Ward Forum on 29th February at the Golf View Hotel. Tim.StottAThighland.gov.uk. is the address if anyone should feel so inclined (replace the AT with @ - anti-spam measure). The results of the charrette should be published midweek on the Council's website. But in the meantime you can see the product as it looked on Friday afternoon here on the Gurn Flickr pages.

This observer has to admit to missing any announcement about the Ward Forum being held in the Golf View and the Council's website currently states that the meeting will be held in the Courthouse. Wherever the meeting is held it will be worthwhile attending to see how things are moving along and the reaction of the usual suspects* to the semi-polished Charrette product as it proceeds to Development Brief status. Also interesting will be the reappearance of Jim McKinnon the Chief Planner for Scotland. He was the star turn on the opening night last Monday and we hope to have more of his speech on the Gurn soon if time permits. Scroll down the Gurn for articles on the Sandown Charrette and also for other interesting articles that have gone up this weekend.

* One correspondent has suggested that the use of the term the "usual suspects" is not entirely helpful in what amounts to civic life in Nairn. Gurnites will recall that Oor Sandy used this phrase sometime ago to describe some of the refusniks that were using ward forums to air their views etc. This observer uses it not as a pejorative term but almost as a term of endearment to those who work hard for the best interests of the town. Perhaps our attitude to the usual suspects can best be summarised by a read of this article "The usual suspects offer hope". They are mostly community councillors, industrious and unpaid, who have the interests of the town at heart. The Gurn may have issues occasionally about some of their methods but that is a matter of personal taste perhaps. Here's a picture from last year - there have been a few changes in personnel since the Community Council elections however. If you are one of the usual suspects and find the use of this term offensive please tell the Gurn.

"So you’ve got a big challenge, not only in Sandown"

Part of the summing up at the Sandown Charrette Thursday 02/02/12 by Julian Farrar

"Town centres, do not forget the importance, the absolute primacy of Nairn’s quality is in your town centre and the protection of that, the articulation of its value, is what is going to in part create for Sandown in success. Your value in part in Sandown and in terms of Delnies is because you are not bolting this onto something which is of an indifferent value, you’re bolting this onto something which is of prime quality and the reason and the people you want to attract into Nairn are based around this town centre and the community and all the community infrastructure and community facilities. And you’ve got another big phase of that, in my mind, when I park out there in that car park, in the derelict bits and pieces. So you’ve got a big challenge, not only in Sandown. You’ve got a big challenge within the town centre and its about community growth […] You’ve got to see this as an opportunity for community growth, we’ve talked about urban design, we’ve talked about design principles but we are not just talking about people and place […]

And I think we need to look at this when we’ve looked at phasing as something that can grow organically, something that isn’t threatening, something that isn’t parachuted in from outside, something that lessons can be learned as we break it down into bits, and we release land in phases, where we can keep a level of custodial control over release of land. It’s also the mechanism by which you’ll secure value.

The previous model isn’t a viable model in our current market and probably not in the current market for the next decade. That’s probably being pessimistic about the market but it’s a market that has got a long time to recover in terms of strategic land for housing. So effectively it should be an evolving design and that’s why I argue to you […] to ensure that you protect flexibility going forward and there has to be in flexibility a level of trust. And you’ve been scarred, you’ve had all these issues, you’ve had other things and you need to keep moving forward. You can look back at that, you can learn lessons from that but you also need to keep moving forward because actually capturing the opportunity is also about effectively providing either the flexibility or adaptation to meet future needs."

Elsewhere in the local blogsphere

Good news for the plotters coming out of the Charrette. And a Nairn rare birdie is in its new home.

Sandown drawings to assist the Charrette towards a development brief

Individual pictures here. Full screen slide show here. Please bear in mind these are not masterplans or tablets of stone just the results of the process so far. A process that continues until around 4.30 p.m today. This is not the end of the story either - from development brief to masterplan will give the community more chance to have their say.

PS tip - once on an inividual picture - click actions, view all sizes for a close-up.

Ensuring community control beyond the charrette

The drawings on the maps by the facilitators are taking shape on the walls up in the Courthouse as the discussions continue. I must say that this observer is perhaps a little concerned that it is always 3-4 of the usual suspects that dominate the "input" from the "community" and there should really be more from others although, I must confess to not having been to all of the sessions, so maybe others have been to the fore too. Even though I might agree with, perhaps, most of what the usual suspects have to say I can't help thinking that others may be intimidated by their constant comments, much of which is of a highly articulate nature. But, is it all necessary, and are others remaining silent if they feel that what they have to say will be considered as not as intellectually important as that of those who have the gift of public speaking?

That aside I personally feel that Julian Farrar is a very fair master of ceremonies and he seems to be on the side of the community. To the fore earlier today was the concept that the community retain control of the appearance of the development through the Common Good Fund - that will be down to ownership issues of course. Mention of all this should be in the outline of the brief which will emerge. Of course, as mentioned in other posts, we are projecting into the future here with wish lists and layouts etc and there will have to be continuing consultation/charrettes if, and when, developers come along. Generally a positive feeling from this observer and that down to the presence and wisdom of Mr Farrar.

Courthouse not big enough for Sandown Charrette!

It is entirely obvious to this observer that there is now not enough room in the Courthouse to entertain all those members of the public that wish to attend. Day 2 and there were nearly forty folk in there and standing room only with officials running around to find more chairs. There might have been worries and arguments over the level of publicity last night at the Academy but the punters continue to turn up. C'mon down Gurnites!

Rosemary Young is upset that there was no hot water left for her to have a cup of coffee at the 11.15 break, which incidently took place around 11.30 due to old toxic Sandown questions resurfacing once again and taking up a bit of time.

The content was about community today and there was a lot of very good input. Brian Stewart and Lorreine Thompson very prominent again with Brian asking why development was the only game in town and why other uses hadn't been discussed up to now and over the last 48 hours. Lorreine supported that. Brian articulating that the whole meeting seemed to be subconsciously accepting the creation of a new suburb. Julian Farrar facilitating seemed to calm his worries a little by explaining that other options were being considered by the charrette simultaneously.

Interesting talking in the break to people who feel that Sandown should be left as a green lung - this observer feels that they could become quite a strong lobby group yet whatever happens at the Charrette.

Things do seem to be building as promised - the best show in town this week folks and all you need to do to have a cameo role is stroll up the stairs to the Courthouse chamber. There might not be any seats however. See you there?

"The old Sandown lags gobbing off"

There was discussion at the joint CC meeting tonight in the Academy about the ongoing Sandown Charrette. Here are a few brief extracts from what was said.

Dick Youngson urged everyone to attend over the next two days if they can. Dick was very happy with the Charrette so far and outlined the work down so far today in the Courthouse.

There was a bit of hot debate about the publicity for the Charrette with Brian Stewart critical here. Brian had other concerns, mainly about the Cawdor proposal being way ahead of Sandown - “ The Delnies tail will wag the Sandown dog” was one phrase he used to outline his concerns about what might happen in the future. Rosemary Young said that she’d heard that nobody knew that it was on and that it was the usual suspects that were there. She thought that was a really bad thing and if they didn’t get the publicity right, they need to run it again and they need to put it in the evening so people who are working can get there. Oor Sandy said that the Community Councils had been informed two to three weeks ago and the publicity in the Nairnshire last week wasn’t as good as he would have expected. John Dolan replied that the press release had been too late for the Nairnshire.

John Mackie, with reference to previous experience said: “You could put posters all over the town, all over wherever you want and you still wouldn’t get a big turnout.

Colin MacAulay (Liz’s SNP running mate for the May elections said however; “It was a good day, it was an open and transparent process. People are genuinely cynical from previous experience about the exercise but I don’t think the facilitators are of that ilk at all. I think it is a very special opportunity to influence a very special piece of land.”

John Hart expressed his concern that the predominance of people there were the old Sandown lags gobbing off. “So we’ve got to encourage other people to go in and make their number and have a look at it,” he said.

Graham Vine said that he didn’t even know that the charrette was on today until he rang to speak to Dick Youngson about something totally different and his Dick’s wife said “oh he’s down at the charrette.”

Tommy said that he was totally happy and he’d been well aware of the charrette but did mention that people were working whilst the event was taking place

Simon Noble thought more could have been done earlier to communicate the message to more people.

You can see the schedule for the charrette here. This observer popped in a couple of times today and enjoyed a coffee and biscuit between two sessions. Why not pop down to the Courthouse and give it a try? If you find it’s not for you then you can always slip away quietly. People seem to be coming and going all the time. It’s your town and your taxes that will be paying for the tea and coffee anyway at the end of the day. Give it a go if in town over the next two days

Charrette - Chief Scottish Government planner - "Was it you that was in the kaftan?"

There’s a lot of Charrette material on the Gurn just now, please scroll down for other articles. This observer feels that perhaps Gurnites would appreciate some extracts from what the Scottish Government’s chief planner Jim McKinnon had to say to those gathered in the Courthouse last night. After his speech he fielded questions and there was no shortage of the usual material that has been the mainstay of the battlefield that has been local politics when it comes to Sandown for many years now. If time permits this week we’ll try to give you the most of Jim’s speech plus his encounters with some of the usual suspects. Here we go them with Jim's opening:

“It’s an absolute pleasure to be here, some of you might know that I grew up just along the road in Forres. I’ve got a great affection for Nairn, my first Latin teacher came from Nairn and I still tremble at the thought of him, and I can still decline amare and dominus, not as quick as I used to but I can still do it. Nairn I think is a nice town, I like Nairn. It’s got great golf courses and I can recall many really enjoyable evenings at the Ballerina. I don’t know whether it still functions as a music venue.”

At this point Oor Sandy made an intervention:

“You’re showing your age now,” he said.

“Was it you that was in the Kaftan?” Replied the Holyrood planning top gun.

He continued; I will also remind you that Nairn County are trailing Forres mechanics in the Highland League at the moment. I recall Nairn as a very vibrant small town and arguably less so now. Although I know the Council has put in a lot of money into improvements in Nairn but, you know, pretty much like any town, any city in Scotland, so much of the modern development you see fails to gladden the eye or lift the spirit and that is why we are here tonight. To start a process that gives you the opportunity to shape the future of Sandown. How it looks, how it feels and how it functions…”

more later Gurnites.

Come on down "You're all invited to be an urban designer for a week"

There was a bit of controversy during the meeting about lack the publicity for the Charrette but Sandy, Jim McKinnon the Scottish Government's chief planner and Tim Stott of Highland Council all said they wanted as many people to attend as possible and asked folk to put the word out:

"You're all invited to become an urban planner for a week," said Mr Stott.

"Climb aboard my old charrette" says the Nairnshire editorial tonight with a critical analysis of the charrette process. A must read editorial for anyone with 45p spare in their pocket this week. Well the participants at the top table tonight professed the view that it is all down to us the punters. Why not pop down to the Courthouse and see for yourselves over the next few days. Is the charrette process of any use? This observer came away impressed by Jim McKinnon he certainly felt like a breath of fresh air after all the years of disappointment and heartache that the Sandown planning process has brought to the community.

Why not decide for yourself as the process builds up to the concluding meeting on Thursday evening. See the schedule here. Every wanted to be an urban planner? See previous article for pictures of the opening meeting of the charrette.

Sandown Charrette kicks off - the Courthouse tonight

Oor Sandy with Julian Farrar of architects Ironside Farrar who are facilitating the charrette.

Jim McKinnon, Chief Planner at The Scottish Government with Chairman of the Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Committee, Councillor Ian Ross. What a class act Jim was, a very interesting mannie - a Forres loon with memories of the Ballerina. More of what Jim said later

Members of the public in attendence

A very interesting night out Gurnites - more later. The charrette runs for the next three days - see the schedule here.