South Nairn and building houses in Nairn – a dissident’s voice raised at the CCs meeting

Murd Dunbar has long been of the opinion that houses should be built on Nairn South. He isn’t alone in that view of course but he is definitely in a minority as regards the huge development that was planned. Large numbers turned out to demonstrate against the proposed project in September 2013, a demo that forced Highland Council to reverse their decision. There then followed the appeal and the hearing which the developer lost. The combined community council meetings generally speak with a sense of collective purpose, gravitas and perceived wisdom about local development and many other matters. Nairn, West and the Suburban Community Councils feel they have their finger on the public pulse when it comes to development in Nairn and the perception that we have had what could be conservatively described as a very raw deal from Highland Council in past years. It is impossible for the CCs to speak for the entire community though and this observer has encountered others with thoughts similar to Murd in recent years, he does remain in the minority but the question would be just how much of a minority is that? At the meeting of the combined CCs last we he asked:

“It’s a fact of life that Nairn needs houses. I have said at numerous council meetings, [...] where, I will ask the three community councils and anybody else in Nairn where would you build houses in Nairn? Not like I was told at one meeting, my grandchildren could go to Tornagrain. [...] Nairn, they want to stay in Nairn, they were born, bred, brought up in Nairn as I was. They want to stay in Nairn. Where will you build houses in Nairn if you’re going to knock back every suggestion? I’ve been at most of your meetings were you knock them back. ”

Graham Vine replied to Murd:

“I was part of the original opposition to Sandown and I think we made it very clear, and there are a number of people here that were part of that process who may be able to back me up, that we did not say no to Sandown. What we did say is don’t over develop Sandown. If it had been the original 120 or revised 240 houses, fine. It was the 550 that we took exception too. So I would like to reassure Murd that there isn’t an utter opposition to building anymore houses in Nairn. There is an opposition to inappropriate over development, solely driven by developer profit. 

Murd continued: “I’d like to know how many of you sitting in this room need a home, are looking for a home. 95% of you are sitting in your own houses.”

John Hart added a point: “That is entirely the point we are making to Highland Council. If they had the brains to put 120, 150 houses on Sandown. You’d have them now. If they had the brains to put a 100 houses in Nairn South, they would have started.”

To this observer the discussion indicated that we do need some more housing built in Nairn very quickly and it would be better if that housing were somehow part of the public stock and made available to people living in Nairn. Why not Sandown? It is land owned by the community, we can decide how many houses - not the Inverness planners. Surely there is a way we can get houses built on there – maybe in such a way that the rental came back into the Common Good (to enable further projects) rather than be paid to Highland Council? Out of the box thinking is required quickly?

A cup trip to Arbroath or Montrose for the Wee County Faitful

Depending on the result of the replay cup derby the Station Park faithful will be heading somewhere different on Saturday the 1st of November. Seats on a bus are currently available but going fast. A £10 deposit in Uncle Bob's bar will secure your seat at the moment however. 

Saturday sees County travelling up to pace-setters Brora Rangers and it will be a difficult task that's for sure but football isn't anything without hope and maybe there could be a shock for the league leaders. 

Off the pitch Donald Wilson recently announced that the fans Ground Improvements Fund had passed the £60,000 mark, monies brought in from sponsored walk and the Quiz night at the weekend brought the total to £60,311. The Club anticipate building a replacement cowshed sometime next year with the fans cash going a long way to providing the funds for the project.

Looks nice but a little bit of information required?

One of our regular readers was wondering if any information is ever going to appear in the big new fancy noticeboard that has appeared in Castle Lane Square. Our correspondent says that the noticeboard has been with us for some weeks now and still shows visitors nothing - Welcome to Nairn "a blank space"? 

"The penalty of not working together is a bloody great big, fat bill to the Council"

At the meeting of the Community Councils last Tuesday night in the Community and Arts Centre, Dick Youngson, chairing the meeting, detailed the aftermath of the South Nairn planning application and the grounds that the Scottish Government’s reporter had refused the appeal. There followed a lengthy discussion during which the shortcomings of consultation and the determination of Highland Council planners to push through their aims were debated. There was doubt expressed that a new way forward could be found. Cllr Michael Green was optimistic that the Community Could work with his Council however, he said:

“The Highland Council is the lead agency; they will continue to be the lead agency for planning, for development. We have to work with them. It really doesn’t create the right atmosphere if we demonise them. Yes we can have our own opinions as you have but we have to work with them. If nothing comes out of it and they don’t accept what we’ve said and I’ve said this all along with consultation and listening to what we’re saying we’re just going to face more and more Nairn Souths. They know that, they do not wish to be facing Nairn Souths. Nor do we wish to be facing Nairn Souths. So unless it’s genuine and they make the first step, then I think we’ve got to trust the officers of Highland Council and hope that they are genuine and that they wish to work in a partnership because that is the only way ahead, it really is.”

Brian Stewart, Secretary of West CC was more wary though he said: 

“We do actually want to get away from the adversarial position, we do actually want to work together because the penalty of not working together is a bloody great big, fat bill to the Council, a lot of grief and aggro and cost to them. If nothing else we have got to convince the Council that is in their interest as planning authority, to consult fully, pay attention and get it right. It is not enough to go through the motions, smile sweetly, have meetings and then go off and do your own thing. 

The key thing is to make sure that they give substance to the notion of working together. Whether it is possible to do that with the level of, how can I put it, ideology or fixed determination that we have observed of the planners is I think still a fair question. We know there have been personnel changes within the last few years at Highland Council. It is an open question whether the Council as the Council needs to look carefully at the staffing and the senior decision making within the planning department and perhaps suggest that there be some changes because it is a question of leopards changing their spots. 

I don’t want to be in an adversarial approach. I’m very much in favour of working with Michael and indeed the planners to try and get things right. The big question for the Council is is are they, the planning officials, willing to get it right.”

It could be that we will find out soon enough if there is to be a new relationship between Highland Council planners and the Community. Loreine Thompson of the Residents Concern Group made a contribution at the closing stages of debate on this topic:

“Bearing in mind that we already had such a bad transport assessment or assessments because we had three of them, basically the Tec services at Highland Council should have really thrown it straight out the window. We now have as an example of Highland Council wanting to work with us as the community. Here is the first test, they are now saying that they want to dispense with the roundabout that they are proposing for Delnies and put in a Ghost Island and yet I have just read that the proposals from Transport Scotland for Drumnadrochit which is accessing onto the A82 and they are basically saying if you are going to access onto the A82 you need a four armed roundabout. So it is the consistency of Transport Scotland and what they are saying and how our Tec services are replying to the planning staff. So as a first test of how all this is going to work with the community the Delnies one is just coming right up."

Scottish Cup Nairn 2 Huntly 1 - pictures

Gurn images - Individual images here.


Pictures from Kenny MacLeod - individual images here.


Pictures from Donald Matheson - individual images here.

Politics - 1,000 new members for Local Constituency Party says SNP activist

The Inverness & Nairn Scottish Parliamentary Constituency as of 5.50pm today has 1,351 SNP members. Over 1000 new! #SNP
— Norman Will (@grumpynorman) October 4, 2014

This growth in political membership has also been reflected locally. On Thursday night the Culloden and Nairn branch of the SNP met for the first time after the referendum. So many new members turned up to the venue in the conference room at the Community and Arts Centre that an alternative venue had to be hastily sought - the ensemble went clubbing - they headed for the Playhouse. 

Nairn bypass preferred route - pictures from exhibition in Community and Arts Centre

The preferred route in red. Larger image and others here

A large turnout as the preferred option was revealed for the A96  bypass. Now there will be another round of consultation with those immediately affected by the route. 

Dick Youngson of Suburban CC told the Gurn that he thought it was a good route and that Transport Scotland had listened to the Community. Elsewhere however, there was at least one member of the local farming community unhappy with the route. Television and other meejah folk were there so no doubt more feedback will be expressed on the box tonight. 

Transport Scotland have also published details of the route online here.  Plus panels from the exhibition here.

The exhibition is open until 7 p.m tonight (Fri 3rd October).

The Highland Times – a new digital “paper” launched recently – “We are the David taking on the established Goliaths up here in The Highlands”

Any Gurnites that now source their news online might like to give the Highland Times a try. This observer has bookmarked the site and will watch how things develop with interests. The news outlet went live on the 15th of September and here’s what those behind the new venture had to say a few days prior to that on their facebook page.

About Us:

"We want this to be a paper by the people for the people.

We are a small group of friends, all from and based in the Highlands of Scotland, the idea to create our own paper is something that I have been thinking of and trying to bring to fruition for nigh on a decade. At last it’s happening, so as they say we live in very interesting times.

We are the David taking on the established Goliaths up here in The Highlands.

We are using our own money and hopefully with the help of the public we hope to take on the existing, established Media Giants here in The Highlands.

Compared to our rivals The Highland Times resources are minimal but if endeavour has anything to do with it we hope to succeed.

Ram Designs of Dunbar have done an excellent job of creating the site, taking our vision of what we wanted and making it reality. So kudos to Scot for listening and getting it right.

We are all really excited about this venture. We are looking forward to putting the hours in and making it a great site. There is no doubt that we have formidable opponents. We just hope the public will get on board with us and help us make it a viable alternative for people who want to know what’s happening in the area quickly and succinctly.

So we look forward to welcoming you, the reader on-board and we hope we can bring to the market a product that you will like and use."

Nairn Healthcare group - shingles vaccination available for those aged 70, 78 or 79

Nairn Commonwealth Ceilidh - a truly international event held in the Legion back in June - video

Thanks to Elena Reid of the Highland-Russia Connection Charity for the above video of the Commonwealth Ceilidh held back in June in the Legion. A truly international event. Elena also provided us with some details:

On Saturday, 21st June, Nairn celebrated the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with a free Commonwealth Ceilidh in Nairn British Legion Highland Hall, as part of a world-wide event, with 65 ceilidhs being held in several countries on the same date, co-ordinated by Get Scotland Dancing and the RSCDS (Royal Scottish Country Dance Society) In the run-up to the ceilidh, we held several dance workshops thanks to Kate McArdle and Megan Fraser, to teach the newly commissioned dances for this event. Both the workshops and the Ceilidh were funded by Celebrate Lottery Fund, and were attended by a number of people of all ages, who then attended the ceilidh and joined in the programme. This was a unique event in Nairn, and was an opportunity for members of several nationalities to get together,including Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, South African, South Korean, Australian, Morrocan, Chinese, Brazilian, Irish, English, Ukrainian, Russian, French, Polish and, of course, Scottish backgrounds. The event was compered by Elena Reid, Chairperson of the Highland-Russia Connection Charity, who said on the night that in the 15 years she has been in Nairn, this is the first time she has known of anything like this happening.