Pothole alert A96

Watch out for this rapidly expanding pothole on the A96 on the way into town, just about mid-way between Grant's Garage and the Merryton traffic lights. The Gurn has reported the pothole to BEAR.

Sainsbury's roundabout gurn

Dave W, who has contacted us previously on issues connected with this roundabout, is not at all impressed with the way the surface of the inner part of the roundabout has been left after recent works. Dave reckons it amounts to two potholes for drivers at two points behind drains. In the picture you can see the end of a lorry as it passes over one of the points concerned. It certainly is a bit of a dip (picture will enlarge). Take care on the roundabouts gurnites, perhaps the work isn't completed yet and Bear Scotland might be coming back to put in a few red bitties?

Harbour street mini-carbuncle?

One of the regular Gurnites complained to us recently about the state of the former Arcade near the top of Harbour Street. It has actually improved recently. Several of the large windows at the side had been smashed but now they have been boarded up - still presenting a bit of a derelict look however - any chance of a coat of paint à la Regal? Maybe some Nairn bairns could create some colourful designs for the boards as a wee project?

Flickr message for a Community Councillor?

Cllr Andrew Purkis, a new member of the River CC's team this time round after the nominations was quoted extensively recently in the Nairnshire Telegraph as regards to a list of improvements he wishes to see in the Fishertown. He said:

"I just feel a bit of community spirit and a little bit of tender care would give an extra boost to the area. We need people to spend money in this area to create jobs. And therefore, we need all the assets in the area to be in as good a condition as we can get them."

Could it be that not everyone agrees with Andrew's vision of how the Fishertown might be improved however? An interesting comment appears below this picture posted on Flickr.

Merryton little green men behaving badly

The pedestrian sequence at the Lochloy Road traffic lights is jumping into the equation unaided once again. Expect longer queues than usual at the lights until it is fixed. Thanks to Colin for the update.

Danny needs some spin - Now?

"This really isn't a bypass. Why isn't Danny lobbying for Nairn?" Asks Green Dad on twitter. Green Dad has mentioned before his belief that the proposed Inverness by-pass really is a relief road and not the full monty. Danny has waded in however, telling the Scottish Government what they should do. Yeah Danny, how about a big shout for Nairn too then? The West CC wouldn't need to campaign for Access Only signs if we had a by-pass (see post below).

More on the BBC site.

It is now over a year since the LibDems last posted anything on their "Nairn needs a by-pass Now" site. Maybe Danny's hopes of re-election next time round are looking as faded as some of the car-stickers they dished out back in February 2009 when they launched their by-pass campaign. Danny needs some spin - now?

UPDATE: Important material for all serious students of the Inverness "By-pass" issue posted in the comments by APT Sec!

Altonburn Road "Access only"

This could be the new look on Altonburn Road and at other entry points to the rat-run that many drivers use to avoid the traffic lights on the A96. The subject of drivers avoiding the jams and driving at inappropriate speeds has surfaced at West CC meetings before but last night a practical solution was suggested

The proposal by Bill Young at the West CC received unanimous backing from his councillor colleagues. The idea is to place mandatory "access only" signs at the junction of Altonburn Road and Pig Street. Other signs would be placed on the Seafield Street brae and just past the Seabank Gardens/Young Street junctions on Manse Rd, Seabank Rd and Albert Street.

The West are to ask the Highland Council to look into putting up these signs that would prohibit any vehichles that were simply using this area as a detour. The Westies are also going to write formally to River and Suburban CCs seeking their support. Jimmy Ferguson wondered if such signs would be enforceable but Bill said anything with a red circle would be mandatory. Seonaid Armstrong was also concerned about wildlife she said:

"On the Altonburn Road I've seen a couple of red squirrels crossing from the Newton which also ties in with all of this because they cross between the Newton Hotel and the pines on the Golf Course."

A member of the public then said that she had seen a dead red squirrel outside marine appartments. Seonaid then continued:

"If Joe Telfer can get signs up for his ducks and swans and all the rest of it, I think a red squirrel is also protected."

Dick Youngson, also present on the behalf of Suburban CC, told the meeting of how a meeting with an official of Highland Council in an attempt to get a "pedestrians on road" sign on Sandown Farm Lane had gone. "They are quite amenable but nothing has happened," he said.

UPDATE: New poll in sidebar - Do you support the proposals?

Common Good issues straight back on the agenda for 2012

West Community Council met last night (Wednesday) for their first meeting of the year. One of the items on the agenda was their submission to the forthcoming “Charette” planned by Highland Council to lay out a masterplan for Sandown. You can’t talk about Sandown without talking about Common Good issues. Gurnites it looks like Common Good matters will be biting the local Highland Councillors who are part of the Glenurquhart Rd ruling group all the way to the ballot box in May. From tonight’s observations it looks like the issue that is the festering sore of the Common Good Fund in Nairn is still alive and as potent and dangerous as it ever was!

New West Councillor Bill Young was forthright in his condemnation of the way the Common Good Fund is being run by Highland Council he said:

“I think there’s a huge conflict of interest between the Highland Council’s duties as Highland Councillors and their trusteeship of the Common Good Fund and the two are getting hopelessly intermixed and hopelessly conflicted.”

Bill wants to see no development at Sandown until the Fund is back under local control when asked by Rosemary what he would like to see happen at Sandown he said: “I would suggest absolutely nothing until we get the Common Good Fund back under local control.”

Bill's views on the Common Good were warmly welcomed by his fellow councillors and members of the public present. This observer suspects that the majority of Gurnites would support Bill’s stance too. He believes the Sandown Lands should not be sold and that there is no reason to sell them. Gurnites will know that Highland Council of course need to get some cash in to pay off the Community Centre debt. But it was Highland Council that run up these debts not the people of Nairn – why should we (through our Common Good Fund) be responsible for the debts left behind when Highland Council’s “preffered bidder” development for Sandown blew up in their faces and not a penny came in to pay off the Community Centre? Were we as a community ever asked if we wanted to sell the land (all of it) for development?

West are to seek the thoughts and support of River and Suburban Councils on getting the Common Good Fund back into community control. Dick Youngson was also at the meeting on the behalf of Suburban Community Council and River CC member Mike Henderson was also there in a personal capacity.

Maybe 2012 will be the year the Common Good Trusteeship comes back to Nairn for good?

UPDATE: links to 4 previous Gurn articles concerning the Common Good Fund and the debts incurred have now been posted in the comments below.

Delnies School - lessons for the future?

Local objectors to the Highland Wide Local Development Plan (HWLDP) told the recent public inquiry that:

“The Academy is at capacity and the building constrains academic achievement.”

This begs the question where children that would live in Sandown, Delnies and South Nairn would be educated when/if these future developments go ahead. The reporter to the inquiry had a response to this, he wrote:

” In Policies 17 and 18, I note that developer contributions to education provision may be required. This adequately addresses the concern regarding space for pupils.”

You can find this and other matters relating to the development as far as it concerns Nairn from page 609 onwards on this document.

How any cash gathered from developers would be spent remains to be seen. Would a new school be built on Delnies? A document that went before the Highland Council’s planning committee back in July of last year did speak of a new primary at Delnies:
” The Concept Masterplan incorporates an illustrative residential layout. This showsthe bulk of the housing on the southern half of the site with a smaller residential zone along the northern margins. In between, land is safeguarded for a large central green and play area including playing fields and a site for a new primary school. Links are shown through to the Sandown site and indicative landscaping on the east and west boundaries. The site also incorporates the tourism/heritage centre at Easter Delnies. The design indicates that the houses will generally be 2 storeys rising to 3 to 4 storeys at appropriate locations.”

The document also talks Potential financial contributions to primary and secondary school shortfalls in a section 75 agreement. You can read this document here.

So we may one day see a new school out at Delnies. It is worth remembering that there was a school out until the mid 80's though and a very good one too it seems. It was closed in 1985 after a long campaign to save it. The school was recorded on the BBC Doomsday pages at the time thus a snapshot of that time can be viewed here. Any former pupils of the school might be interested in a facebook page created by Jacob Christensen

Iain Bain, a former pupil at Delnies told the Gurn, “Its closure had been mooted for decades before. It was a live issue in the 1950s, early 60s when I attended. In the early 60s it narrowly escaped closure. Attendance hovered around the 50 mark and it was a two-room, two teacher affair. The former Moray and Nairn authority was very keen to close its small schools, arguing that bigger ones could offer more. Delnies was just slightly bigger than the single teacher schools which got the chop.”

Iain recalls: “I don't believe Delnies was disadvantaged particularly but Millbank got better music and art teaching and we got no physical education until the late Mrs Kerr began a peripatetic round. We never got any swimming. When we moved to Nairn in 1960 I was given the choice of having my final year at Delnies or transferring to Millbank. I chose Delnies although it meant a hike, bike or bus ride. In Tradespark parents were offered the choice of Millbank or Delnies. This persisted right through the expansion of Tradespark (Red Cross and Croft field) building until the 1990s in the form of a choice between Rosebank and Millbank and it ended when there was a decline in the Rosebank roll.”

Now as we move towards potential development of both Sandown and Delnies perhaps the closure of the Delnies school can look, with the benefit of hindsight, rather short-sighted? Perhaps it would have been unsustainable to have parents driving there to pick up children on the edge of the busy A96 but then perhaps a roundabout an parking could have been created. A roundabout would certainly have made turning off to Ardersier a lot safer.

Delnies school itself was donated by Cawdor Estate and reverted to the estate when it was no longer used for educational purposes. If another school is needed at Delnies then developers will be persuaded to cough up some cash in the same way Sainsbury’s had their arm twisted behind their back to contribute to the High Street and traffic lights. Are we moving too quickly into an age where the only way we will get any new infrastructure is if a developer pays for it in exchange for permission to build a few hundred houses or a supermarket?

Danny-Unsubscribe

This observer never used to mind the yearly e-mail from Danny Alexander but thought it might be time for another New Year resolution.