Hat-tip to Green Dad for spotting a Scotsman article which details Moray Council backing down over plans to sell off Common Good Land in the face of opposition from the citizens of Forres.
"Some 70 per cent of the people of Forres who responded to the council's public consultation voted against the sell-off. "
Soon Highland Council will embark on a consultation process for their second attempt to do something with Sandown. Hopefully Highland Council will listen well to everything the public have to say this time round the course and we'll all live happily ever after.
Surely the town of Nairn needs the money from the sale of common good land, Hell the town is a disgrace lets hope we don't follow the way of Forres.
ReplyDeleteAnon. Selling the common good land is the letting go of the family silver, what will future generations have to use or enjoy if all the common good becomes housing?
ReplyDeleteFinances need to be sorted, but not by such measures
Dear Anon
ReplyDelete'lets hope we don't follow the way of Forres' you said.
Why bring Forres up?
1) Forres has an A96 by-pass.
2) Naturally, Forres has a dying town centre. Five empty shops today.
3) Forres has a grocery discounter - Lidl, and a medium size Tesco. Do you want to swap for five Co-ops and a Sainsbury?
4) Forres has NO traffic lights!!
Should your remark be part of the campaign to keep another supermarket and a Travelodge out of Forres, well, I think you're on the wrong side. Any jobs in the town are welcome.
Central Command in Inverness, will tell us the good citizen what's right for us, not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteJim, Nairn has a bypass. Or maybe you haven't noticed that not all traffic travels through our High Street?
ReplyDeleteI was trying to say that Nairn is a mess not Forres.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that we can't afford not to sell the common good land, family siver is only useful if you do sell it, the money is needed to sort Nairn out for this generation.
Where do you suggest we get the money, the Davidson trust is well tied up ,we never hear what happens to that money which was 'left to the people of Nairn'--thats a joke.
ps. I would not like a tesco and lidl in Nairn it would make us the same as every other small town in the Area.
Anon. The family silver being referred to is a wide open stretch of land at Sandown. Many Nairnites would likes to see it remain as such. Common good land should not be seen as a saleable item, but treasured for what it is
ReplyDeleteAs for having a Lidl in Nairn, I'm sure for many people it would have been there preferred choice of supermarket rather than Sainsbury's. For some of us cost rather than being exclusive is the issue with our shopping!
hey if you want to keep common good land and have a lidls. Forres, everything the modern world needs it seems is there. i think you'll find that if a vote is taken most people want more developments in nairn we're stuck in a rut.
ReplyDeleteThe only people who are interested in what happens to the common good land are the people who live near it, but it is not there right or mine to say what becomes of it.
ReplyDeletethere are very few people use it.
The comments by "Anonymous" show a depressing degree of naivety.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Nairn is a bit of a mess. But to suggest that selling off the Sandown common good land (the family silver) will somehow make Nairn visually attractive and commercially successful is just misguided.
- the sale of Sandown will undoubtedly result in substantial housing development there. Will the loss of the vistas over the Firth and the construction of housing blocks make Nairn a more appealing and attractive place?
- the sale of Sandown will give the Council a substantial sum of money. Some will pay off the debts from the building of the new Community Centre, which is necessary, and fair enough. But there is no guarantee that the rest will be spent on, or in, Nairn. The Council could easily seek to use it to pay for dualling the A96 from Inverness to the airport, or other similar 'regional' projects.
Anonymous is simply mistaken in thinking that raising, or spending, the capital gained from selling common good assets will solve Nairn's problems.
The town is a disgrace because absentee landlords and corporate owners neglect their properties (eg the derelict bus station, the Regal, and many High Street buildings); because developers greedily build badly-designed housing too densely into the available spaces; and because local Council planners and government agencies consistently fail to deliver sensible, imaginative and timely plans and infrastructure.
None of these deficiencies will be put right by throwing money at them. Nairn's problems will be solved by more creative and competent planning - and more thoughtful comment from residents.
I have come up with the perfect solution to keep all the people happy that are objecting to out of town housing------------
ReplyDeletedemolish the High St and build there or maybe on the Links,
Well we wouldn't want to spoil the view from sandown and housing has to go somewhere!
Sorry oldies young people are taking over your town!
Its not naive to want to spend money on upgrading the town centre,thats where the powers that be said the proceeds from Sandown would be spent.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the naivity comes from Anonymous believing that statement.
"Sorry oldies young people are taking over your town!"
ReplyDeleteExcellent, would love to see young people putting themselves forward as candidates for the November CC elections
"Sorry oldies young people are taking over your town!"
ReplyDeleteSorry anon, young people have been leaving Nairn in droves for quite some time, no work, no housing, and the promise of a better life elsewhere. I doubt even the new Uni of the Highlands will keep many here.
Nairn has long been in the hands of the oldies and looks like staying so for some time
What's the point of proudly displaying the family silver on the sideboard and boasting how wonderfully it is to hqve such a thing, if the house you live in is falling apart around you.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you have to.sell the family silver to maintain your house.