Flood Prevention for Nairn Central - a remarkable amount of inaction in recent years "So in summary, a timeline set in 2012 for delivery by 2019 has now slipped by almost a decade. And this is only for the first stage, of studies. Implementation of any actual prevention and protection works required is therefore unlikely to begin until sometime between 2025 and 2030 at the earliest."

This observer went to the recent meeting and of the Nairn West and Suburban Community Council and here's a succinct report from ComCllr Brian Stewart who outlined the latest situation or basically the lack of action.  There seems to be a lack of urgency about this issue at Highland Council.

When will Nairn even get a flood prevention study - let alone actual augmented defences?

Here at the Gurn we believe Flood Protection for Nairn should be seen as an emergency and funding should be found just as was for the Couthouse. It is an issue that cannot wait, Nairn needs more flood protection and sooner rather than later.  Here is an article on this subject that we published recently.

Here's what Brian Stewart had to say at the Westies meeting last week:

"In the light of concerns raised at January meeting, we wrote to Council and relevant agencies about the specific matter of the Alton Burn overflowing at that time, and we took the opportunity also to ask about progress with the local Flood Risk Management Plan for the wider Nairn area.

 We have had replies from SEPA and from the Council.  Copies of both can be made available to anyone interested.  […]  I'll try and summarise the key points are:

Firstly On the Alton Burn

SEPA wasn't really able to identify any reason for the recent high volume of water and overflows into adjacent properties.  Their reply provided statistics of rainfall which they describe as “not unusual”.  And then SEPA just added the standard reminder that landowners are responsible for ensuring the free drainage of watercourses through their properties.

The Council watercourse inspector had made a scheduled annual visit on 24 June 2019, and a further visit on 5 February.  On this later visit he found “some minor blockages” which were removed.

A SEPA official visited on 23 January which is around the time the issue was raised and according to their reply he found “nothing untoward”.  So we are still a little bit unclear as to why the burn overflowed into local residents’ properties at that time. That is as much information as SEPA and the Council were able to give us on that particular situation.

On the wider question of action to prevent and protect against local flooding,

SEPA drew up an overall strategy back in 2012 which set out the timeline for completion of studies, preparation of plans and final publication by 2016.  This was obviously not met. 

In 2015 SEPA published a further strategy document.  This identified the risks and impacts of flooding for each potentially vulnerable area (PVAs).  In the case of Nairn, there are three such areas. Two are the responsibility of Highland Council, and one comes under Moray Council’s plan but with Highland Council as the lead authority.

The reply we got from Highland Council describes the current position and outlook, based on an interim progress report (which is available online).

Nairn West and Ardersier  which is the potentially vulnerable area through which the Alton Burn flows.  No action has yet been taken.  The first step – which is a Flood Protection Study – is due to be carried out between 2022 and 2028.

Nairn Central  is the highest risk area in the Highlands after Inverness (2nd highest out of 23 PVAs in the region).  The Council’s reply to our letter said a study was scheduled to have been done between 2016 and 2019.  It wasn’t.  There is at present no funding to undertake such work.  In March 2018, the allocation of funding for this initial study which was deferred until  the period 2021 to 2024.  So nothing has been or can be done because the funding hasn't been allocated.  The Council did say that they hope to invite tenders for the study in 2020.  Then once money is allocated and  the study is done, the Council then expects to take “a couple more years” to finalise an Options Appraisal Report.  So any actual practical steps to protect or prevent flooding in the Nairn Central area unlikely until 2023 at the earliest and quite possibly not until 2028-30.

The third area, Nairn East and Auldearn is the one that comes under the umbrealla of Moray.  The initial study was supposed to be linked to the Nairn Central one, and was due to have been completed by 2019.  It wasn’t.  It too has now been pushed back to sometime after 2024, for the same reason:  no money has been allocated.

So in summary, a timeline set in 2012 for delivery by 2019 has now slipped by almost a decade.  And this is only for the first stage, of studies.  Implementation of any actual prevention and protection works required is therefore unlikely to begin until sometime between 2025 and 2030 at the earliest.

It will not have escaped people’s notice that – by contrast – major flood prevention works along the River Ness have been completed and delivered over the past couple of years.  Those who travel east will also have noticed the massive flood protection-schemes, also now complete, on this side of Forres and up the Mosset Burn;  and on the far side of Elgin.

What can be done?

Firstly I think the answer is simple.  Two things are required.  Money and political will.  Both were clearly brought to bear to ensure action in Inverness and in Moray. 

If the people of Nairn – especially Fishertown – and those who live alongside the Auldearn and Alton Burns, are going to be protected from the threat of flooding and everyone is worried about climate change and the level of risk. Then I think we have to look to our own representatives of Nairn on Highland Council (which decides the funding allocations and the delivery of the plans and protection schemes) to do what ever they possibly can to ensure that action protect is put as far as possible up the agenda.

Next up Nairn River Community Council meeting on Tuesday night (10.03.20) - interesting agenda too

More details here.

Erection of 12 flats and CAB offices, bin store, landscaping and associated infrastructure - Nairn West and Suburban Community Council submission to planners

The Gurn has received a copy of the submission by the Nairn West and Suburban Community Council to the recent planning application for the King Street site:

"Erection of 12 flats and CAB offices, bin store, landscaping and associated infrastructure
62 King Street Nairn IV12 4DN Ref. No: 20/00338/FU – Comments

At the monthly meeting of the Nairn West & Suburban Community Council on Monday, 24th February, 2020 the application to build a new 12-unit housing block with office for the CAB was thoroughly discussed. The majority of voting members were against the application for various reasons. Two members were in favour of the proposed plan (with some suggestions for possible modifications).

All NW&SCC members are supportive of the CAB and the excellent role it plays in our community. However, the need for a bigger CAB building has been ongoing for over fifteen years. Several workable good options were proffered during that time but not grasped. The members are also fully supportive of the need to provide suitable housing in the town. NW&SCC has requested, along with another Nairn organisation, to meet with the appropriate Highland Council officials to find ways to regenerate empty first floor and other properties located in the town centre. There is a firm belief that those involved in such a meeting would be able to identify properties which could be converted or remodelled to meet the needs of those on the waiting list. It is also believed that there are several building blocks located on the High Street, Leopold Street or Cawdor Road where the ground floor could be made suitable for the CAB and the upper floors repurposed for housing. 

Against this background, the feeling of the majority of NW&SCC is that this application is inappropriate, and is being pushed through purely to access a small fund of money on a specific timeline. Few if any other options seem to have been explored for the provision of local housing by repurposing existing buildings, nor for an alternative for the CAB. This application is piecemeal development: a single building, proposed simply to gain a small government hand out. This is not the most appropriate way to deliver the regeneration of Nairn’s town centre. It does not justify ignoring an already-agreed set of principles and an adopted town centre plan which is supposed to be a blueprint not just for the next ten years but for the next hundred.

The key point made by those commenting on the planning application was that it was inconsistent with the existing agreed town centre regeneration plan. This plan was produced in a charrette organised in 2014 by Highland Council, facilitated by consultants (Rydens) and funded by a £40,000 grant from the Scottish Government. Its aim was to consult the town on an agreed future town plan which included the best use of the centre of Nairn, vennels and walkways. The charrette was well attended over its two day duration. The plan agreed at the charrette was later formally adopted in 2015 by Highland Council as Supplementary Guidance. It is therefore a material planning consideration.

Recent legislation, namely the 2015 Community Empowerment Act and the 2019 Planning Act, have given further stimulus to the local community in Nairn to take forward local place planning. We were encouraged by the readiness of Highland Council planners at the recent meetings convened by Scott Dalgarno to engage and collaborate in such efforts. It now seems to be inconsistent for the Council to ignore the existing agreed guidance and the collaborative approach we were anticipating. The proposed building risks pre-empting or preventing, rather than enabling, the improvement of the central heart of the town.

The chance discovery of the existence of a very recent building warrant (dated 13 Feb and apparently agreed within days, with no public notification or consultation) for the demolition of the historic old Police Station building now referred to as the Old Social Work Building, has considerably increased local disquiet. In the 2015 adopted Nairn town centre plan it clearly states that the building should NOT be demolished and that new uses should be explored. It is a heritage building which complements other nearby historic buildings namely the listed former school and the Courthouse. We are told that its demolition is intrinsic/directly related to the current planning application. Its removal is allegedly necessary to allow the planning application to meet the car parking requirements and to compensate for the loss of the car park on the proposed site of the new build. 

There are many questionable matters surrounding the Building Warrant, not least the timing issue. The warrant was submitted and approved before the planning application was received and subsequently logged. There has been no process of local notification or consultation around this building warrant for the demolition. What assessments have been made regarding the condition of the building, the business case for retention or removal, evaluation of alternative options and the implications of its demolition both for the adjacent common good property and the historical heritage of the town? There is a clear need for the whole process to be transparent, for full and proper appraisal and most importantly for full local engagement with all the foregoing facts made public before any decision either way is made!

Aesthetic consideration also needs to be given to the change of view that would be seen driving through the town on the A96. Again the Nairn Town Centre Plan has clear criteria surrounding the need to plan and prepare for the A96 Bypass and to develop a vital, diverse, and attractive town centre that will attract visitors, link the High Street to the Viewfield area and offer both better public space and improved amenities. The OSWB is [as per the charrette plan] an important historic building with character, that merits resurrection. The housing block proposed in the current application would do nothing to enhance the historic character of the town, neither would it provide amenities for visitors or residents. It would obstruct the one attractive visual view of the Courthouse and the clock tower. Little thought appears to have been given to this during the planning process so far.

We would appreciate receiving answers to all the questions posed above, before any decisions are made or action taken. Given the existence of approved plans and guidance, and the commitment to a new, and collaborative approach to the town’s development, meetings need to be arranged to look at all other options. Time must be allowed to enable the views of the town and its residents to be discussed, but to allow that to happen we now need to receive full information, detailed evidence and a clear explanation why this is the only option available.

Sheena Baker
Chairperson"

“It's the whole principle of asking people to design their town centre and then throwing it in the bin.” Demolition of the old Police Station on King Street – serious concerns raised on how Highland Council are going about it

At the NWSCC meeting in the Community and Arts Centre on Monday night there was much discussion on the merits of the flats proposed for the car park area which is the site of the former Community Centre. There were various opinions on the merits or otherwise of the proposed building with flats on two floors and a relocated CAB office on the ground floor – any readers not up to date with he proposed building can find the application here and then submit their own thoughts if they wish.

What is becoming increasingly interesting though is the demolition procedure for the old police station itself. There were claims that Highland Council are riding roughshod over the wishes of the community despite claims of a new dawn of community empowerment. From the public seats over at the Communtiy Centre on Monday night folks it certainly did seem like it was more of the same one-way traffic from Glenurquhart Road.

The restoration of this building seemed to have been enshrined in a Town Centre Plan produced with funding from the Scottish Government back in 2015 as a result of local folk been extensively consulted. Here's what Joan Noble had to say at the meeting:

“I would just like to come back to the Charrette process starting in 2015, that was a two year process which I think cost £40,000. A huge number of people from Nairn took part, both at the meetings, by letter, by whatever...it was led by consultants, it was extremely well done and then it was drawn together into this town centre community plan. Which was an integrated plan for the town centre that would encourage the economic health of the High Street, encourage visitors to come and all the things that we have heard about.

It was actually approved by the then Councillors from Nairn in 2017. So it has actually been adopted by our own Highland Councillors and we have to say to them, that they do, even if they weren't on the Council at that time, they have a corporate responsibility to support that plan until a time that that plan is changed. So you can't just say that you can't support the plan because it has already been enshrined, it's been enshrined in the Inner Moray Firth Development Plan and it is also in the new Inner Moray Firth Development Plan which we saw the beginnings of at the meeting with Scott Delgarno. It's supplementary planning guidance so it can't just be chucked in the bin like that.

But the last question I have to say is: why should people in this town bother going through these huge processes of consultation and drawing together really good ideas and everybody getting enthused about it and suddenly out of left field with a couple of weeks notice, boom, the whole thing just goes up, just explodes, the whole reasoned argument that has been worked on for four years for our town centre. So there's a huge point of principle here, you come to a town and you ask everyone what they think – you get together, you talk together and it's all written out and put in our Highland-wide plans and it is supplementary guidance. Then all of a sudden just because we get money from the Scottish Government you can't throw everything that has been decided.

That's my first point, it's the whole principle of asking people to design their town centre and then throwing it in the bin. It really gets up my nose.”

A little later, both Mandy Lanswon and Hamish Bain of Nairn River Community Council spoke.

Mandy said that her organisation had not been informed of the demolition.

Hamish said:“The demolition order has got no risk assessment, no plans, there's no documentation at all. There is nothing in there that I would consider a normal process.”

Concern was also raised as to whether the public toilets on Common Good Land would be damaged during the demolition.

So there we have it readers – it is allegedly the age of Community Empowerment but it just looks more of the same with Highland Council dictating what it wishes in Nairn. Whatever your feelings about flats being built and the proposed flitting of the Nairn CAB there are surely deep democratic issues here that have rightly been raised?

And here's the result of the Community Consultation back in 2015 when it comes to the buildings scheduled to be demolished in King Street:

“This former office building is vacant and its prominent site should be brought back to productive use, ideally serving a community/cultural purpose.

 Restoring these buildings to active use was identified as a priority at the public consultation event onthe Draft TCAP in March 2015. Feedback highlighted their value as part of the traditional fabric of the town. There was keen interest in establishing an appropriate new use, with preference for community use/ownership or public use, e.g. tourist information. There was little support for demolition, despite concerns over the property’s neglected appearance and setting.

 These Council-owned former offices and public toilets were recently advertised for sale and attracted some interest from private buyers.

 This building is suited to residential use, which would be particularly compatible with Proposal 14 to reinstate King Street’s original town centre character following de-trunking of the A96”

You can read the full Town Centre Plan here.

Looks like funding for a Nairn Bypass will still be in the mix then as the Greens do a deal with the SNP

In an article headlined "Scottish budget 2020-21: Free bus travel in SNP-Green deal" the BBC state on their website:

"The government has also agreed to review plans to upgrade the Sheriffhall roundabout on the Edinburgh bypass, although ministers have rejected calls from the Greens to scrap works on the A9 and A96."

More details here

Time for Nairn's Highland Councillors to put their organisation's latest car parking charges proposals into the public domain

Last night in the Community and Arts Centre Cllr Peter Saggers told NWSCC members:

“We have been given proposals for each of the seven car parks, setting out what they thought should be the charging structure, who should be allowed to park there, what kind of parking should be applied. We gave them our views on it, they've gone back to think again. Following that they are due to come to the community councils sometime before the 16^th of March to discuss with you as a statutory consultee. They will take on board what you say. Go back and think again. They will then...”

Cllr Saggers was then interrupted by the chair Sheena Baker who said: “do you think that they are going to tell them to go back and think again or they will go back and think again?”

Cllr Saggers continued: “They have told us that they will take into account your views. This will run on till the end of March and some time before the end of April they will publish a traffic order for each of the car parks.”

Then he indicated that there would be a further period of consultation after the publication of the traffic orders when further comments will be considered. He went on to say that it was much more likely that some people won't be happy with what is being proposed and the result being that what the Council is proposing will go to the June area committee and then the councillors will either approve it or amend what they are proposing.”

Here at the Gurn we feel that our Councillors should immediately put into the public domain what the Council has come up with so far for the Nairn car parks and what they have put in as their own submissions. We've seen the disaster that the implementation of car parking charges have been in the Angus towns and we need maximum transparency now – Nairn residents and businesses need to know what is going on – lift the lid on the language and machinery of local government that is cloaking these proposals now!

Wouldn't it have been far out if Peter Saggers and Tom Heggie had said last night: “Parking charges are unacceptable to Nairn in any car park and there are no circumstances under which we will vote for parking charges at the June area committee meeting.”?

Fireworks for Christmas

Last night in the Nairn Community and Arts Centre it was revealed that the Fireworks cash that has been sitting in Nairn West and Suburban CC accounts will be used (subject to Nairn BID getting the relevant permissions) for a fireworks display on the Links as a finale to this year's Christmas Lights switch on.

Nairn Duolingo Gaelic learners group Newsletter

Nairn Duolingo Gaelic learners group Newsletter

Halò a chàirdean, Our second meeting in the Bandstand took place on a wild, wet, stormy night but it didn't deter eight folk from turning up for a blether. We'll be going back there next month, details soon. 112 on the Brae took us in on Wednesday afternoon and kindly gave us the very comfortable back room where we indulged in coffee, cake, scones, soup and other goodies – we also managed some Gaelic.

So what's up next? The Cearcall Còmhraidh are flitting from the Library for one day only on Saturday the 7th of March, they'll be going over to the annual Fèis Inbhir Narainn in the Community Centre between 11.00 to 12 Midday for coffee and cakes. More details of what will be happening at Fèis Inbhir Narainn here. https://www.nairnfeis.co.uk/what-we-do/events/

Duolingo meet-ups are starting in Inverness now and the first one will be on Tuesday the 10th of March at 6.30 pm. Seonaidh who has been through to a couple of our events is organising them. There's a link below where you can find full details about where to find the venue on Castle Street. https://events.duolingo.com/events/details/duolingo-inverness-scottish-gaelic-presents-gaelic-group-for-all-levels-2020-03-10/#/ And here's a few more events that will appear on our Nairn Group pages very soon

Skype Sunday 15th March 9 pm – We'd just like to see if there is demand for this as often it is near impossible for some folk to get to anything due to various commitments – so if you fancy a meet-up without having to go out of the house then maybe this could be for you. Register for the event and then send an message via the Duolingo “contact us” button at the bottom of the event page – send us your Skype name and then you can be invited in on Sunday the 15th of March at 9 pm

Tuesday 17th March back to the Bandstand at the usual time of 7 pm for a blether and a glass of something.

We'll be back in the Library on Sat 21st at mid-day until 1pm. The Cearcall Còmhraidh usually have a few folk there every Saturday but once a month there's a bit of an advertising drive for one of the Saturdays.

Sunday March 22nd. Cuairt na h-aibhne. Meet up outside the Courthouse at 10.30 am for a walk round the river as far as Firhall, commenting a bit about things on the way down then the flora and fauna of the riverside as best as we can (perhaps assisted by faclair.com at times) then back down all the way to the harbour, along the beach – aiming to be at Jame's Cafe sometime between 12.00 and 12.30 for midday coffee or even ice-cream if warm enough. You could of course just turn up at the Cafe if you like and wait for the walkers to arrive. Like all our events, open to all ages and Gaelic abilities.

Weds 26th and it'll be back to 112 on the brae for more Coffee and cake etc at 2 pm. Please forward this on to any friends who are learners or speakers and if you have any ideas about what we can do in the future to give opportunities for people to try out their Gaelic in a friendly informal setting then please let us now. Mar sin leibh an-dràsta.

"I find it absolutely astonishing that Highland Council have closed down public toilets, forcing visitors to go behind a wall to have a pee or a shit."

Interesting call to embrace the campervan visitors to Scotland and create cheap and well-resourced, welcoming "aires" for them and boost local economies. Here's Cameron McNeish's video:

This video explains why Scotland is liable to lose out on a potentially massive tourism boost if we continue to victimise campervanners. Continental Europe caters extremely well for this market. Here in Scotland we are still in the Dark Ages. https://t.co/Ygj4HBjbp5

— Cameron McNeish (@CameronMcNeish) February 22, 2020

Nairn in Whiteness and Light

8:16am - In the space of only two minutes the roads turned white with a huge hail storm 🌨️ Nairn #Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #SaturdayMotivation pic.twitter.com/J3ty3TLOAK

— Nigel (@saskiasamoyed) February 22, 2020