Murd tells NICE: “Fair enough, do what you like with the building but no café.”

Quite a lot of vintage stuff at the NICE AGM last night in the Community Centre - much of it straght from the heart from Alistair Noble. Also present was, regular attendee of Commuity Council meetings and any gathering where community concerns are aired, Murd Dunbar. Murd is another man who speaks from the heart when it comes to Nairn issues and the future of our town, he might not be as articulate as some of them but he is effective in getting his point across. Here's what he had to say last night (Weds) when the NICE folk discussed the future of the old Social Work Building: 

“Although I’m not against what NICE is trying to do, I agree with a lot of your programme – but I do have objections to (as I was told last time it was only speculation) a bistro going in there, a café going in there. We’ve a café next door trying to make a living. We’ve a man opening a bistro up at the Regal. You’re going to stick it in there and then say it is four the good of Nairn. What about the other businesses. They’ve got to make a living and they are struggling at the moment […]. Fair enough do what you like with the building but no café.”

 A little later Campbell Mair came back for NICE with a response to Murd:

"I think that point Murd is making is actually very important. If and when we get to the stage of having a good problem of determining which parts of the building are going to be used for which purpose by what people. Actually you’re right Murd, it’s going to be quite difficult to decide what – who is going to decide who’s going in  - how we are going to decide that (whoever we is) – on what basis? There would need to be commercial realities to be taken into account. You are absolutely right, there would be sensitive areas. Having said that these would be good problems to have because it would mean that we have, in partnership with the Highland Council, taken ownership of the building […] We need to watch and make sure that whatever we are going to do in there (whoever we is) on a commercial sense, that it is actually handled quite sensitively. Particularly given NICE’s structure as a charity for the good of Nairn." 

Following Campbell, Iain Fairweather had another response to Murd, he stated:

"I think any business that goes in there would be on the basis of a business plan that would work. It wouldn’t be because we put them in there. So if the businesses that come would have to justify why they should be there […] There might be a small bistro or restaurant already on the High Street that would see that as a great opportunity to develop their own business and move. Because that would be a prime site if they ran it as a café/bistro. So it’s not a case of putting some else out of business or putting pressure on them, it could just open new doors for them."

"Just like that" - another Nairn festival emerges for Games Weekend

 The Playhouse have posted on their facebook page:

"Get ready for a MASSIVE games weekend! This year The Play House will be running a four day festival with Dance Anthems brought to you by Luscious. Live Music from Lockstock & Barrel and On the Bru as well as DJ sets from DJ Al Stewart and Myles Andrew. 2013 is going to be the best year yet. Keep your eyes on facebook for more info on promotions and events."

More details here.

New Nairn County Programme style - first edition for sale this Saturday at Station Park v Brora

First Nairn county match day programme made by @GraemeMacleod2 pic.twitter.com/sVmAthv5Iz
— Nairn County FC (@NairnCounty_FC) August 8, 2013

 Meanwhile in the Scottish Cup Nairn County have a difficult away trip against East Junior Superleague champions and Scottish Emirates Junior Cup runners-up Linlithgow Rose. The tie will be played on Saturday the 14th of September.
New news stories also on the County Fans fundraising pages - keep up to date here.

Confident Alistair Noble presents well attended NICE AGM

Only a few seats left in the conference room in the Community Centre earlier tonight when Alistair Noble presented his Chairman's report and after other AGM business the assembly got down to discussing the organisation's feasibility study for the social work building. The confidence and optimism for the future was palpable and although there were some interesting questions from the floor no one present seemed unduly concerned by comments made by Provost Liz MacDonald that were reported in a front page spread in yesterday's Nairnshire.

We hope to report further on the evening's events when time permits later this week. In the meantime here's Alistair's address to the meeting: 

"This has been an exciting first year of NICE as a Scottish Charity and Community Body.

We have been asked to demonstrate our capabilities by delivering one major project. The development of the old social work building was the obvious first choice. After wide consultation we are tonight presenting our excellent feasibility study. We will now move, working in close co­operation with Highland Council to deliver a business plan in acceptable form to their Asset Management Project Board, seeking approval within 3 months. This is a solid amount of work and I would like to thank in particular Mike Barnett for managing the production of this business plan and ensuring the quality of its content.

The major proposal is for a 'Gateway Visitor Attraction'. Simply put, if we move from 5000 visitors in our existing visitor centre to a realistic 100,000 reached in smaller highland tourist towns we will generate more spend in Nairnshire to the benefit of local jobs and our tourists. We will have spent £500,000 on upgrading this lovely building in such a prominent and visually important site. This again will provide more local jobs, both in construction and retail.

NICE was set up to prioritise the needs of Greater Nairnshire. We live in a competitive financial environment and large payments for example by HIE to Forres and Inverness makes it hard for Nairnshire to compete. This is widely understood and accepted as the fundamental reason for setting up NICE. If you look back at

our Vision Paper we have seen major developments in several of the problem areas we highlighted. Here I stress NICE was set up to facilitate and stimulate not to do everything on our own. Progress is our aim and we are seeing changes such as the old community centre, petrol station, Regal, bus station, Corsee, Barron House and Links school. I am sure that the 4 local councillors welcome that local focus and achievement.

Locality planning with a new emphasis on locality capacity is the way forward. The favoured NICE model is for NICE directors to be non–executive and employ professional staff to rebuild community capacity .We can also develop trading subsidiaries or social enterprise companies backed by the NICE Board but with a lot of freedom to develop .We feel this is the best way of harnessing the huge amount of voluntary support in Nairnshire without overexposing the willing few.

NICE is committed to Fair Share allocations from Local Authority, Health Board and HIE. 'Place Worth' is a simple concept where we all should know the total Nairnshire income and the percentage spent locally and therefore what is leaving Nairnshire. We want to increase our local spend and control. In doing so we believe we will achieve better value for money, more and better local jobs and above all a much greater Nairnshire Common Good in its widest sense.

In conclusion I would like to thank all my fellow directors and our helpers for all their hard work.

I thank our 1050 members for all their support and ideas. In a Scottish context this is seen as massive and valuable support and evidence of real community backing for NICE. Our membership team will be back working to increase the membership over the next 3 months as this greatly strengthens our position and opens even more exciting doors. I am looking forward to next year's progress report with a real confidence in Nairnshire's ability to lead the way in developing sustainable working practices for our future developments."

Like Brigadoon the BMX track appears out of the mist

Regular readers will know that Murd is always pointing out the areas along the riverside that need some care and attention. The monstrously overgrown state of the BMX track has featured in his presentations to various community councils for some time. Today he told the Gurn however:
"Who said it does not pay to complain. Look what I found when out for a walk with my dog."

Brown stuff heads down Cumming Street towards the Showies

The odour was unmistakable and brown stuff was visible, mixed in with the grey stuff. Hopefully Scottish Water will get down there quickly for a look and maybe even hose the area down and disinfect? The Gurn has tweeted them. This image was taken about half past twelve and a fair quantity of material had already deposited itself further down the street and on the car park area. More pictures here. 

West CC letter to Police on Review of Traffic Warden provision in Nairn

The Gurn has received a copy of a letter that the West Community Council have writte to the Divisional Commander of the Scottish Police Force. It's a two-page letter that many gurnites might find interesting, you can read it here. 

A glimmer of Common Good for the LibDems?

One of our regular readers is an avid follower of the Scottish Political Scene and came across a Stirling Observer article which suggest that the LibDems might be about to pursue Land Reform as a central election policy. The paper states that at a one-day Scottish Conference next month more will be unveiled. 

The paper, perhaps quoting from a press release,states: 

"Historic "common good" land, often lost to communities in the regional government shake-up of the 1970s, should be returned at no cost."  

Maybe of course the Scottish Government's community renewal bill will get there first and give communities control of their Common Good again. Of course the policies of all Westminster based parties may be academic depending on the result of the referendum next year.  You can read the article in the Stirling Observer here.

No seasonal traffic warden for Nairn?

The Gurn understands that West Community Council are to write to Police Scotland in connection with parking issues in the town. Secretary Brian Stewart, at the organisation’s meeting last week, was of the opinion that a circular to all Community Councils concerning the review of police staff and resources implied that it was unlikely a seasonal traffic warden would be appointed in Nairn.  

It seems that there is a school of thought in Westie ranks that the Police should be more active on parking issues but at least one member of the public present was not keen on seeking enforcement by “hit squads” of police.

Well behaved collies

Thanks to Donald Matheson for this image of three local canine faces outside the Royal Bank on the High Street today.