The "Usual Suspects" offer hope

The usual suspects (picture here) got down to business earlier this evening (Monday) in the community centre for the CCC meeting (combined community councils). It went fairly well with discussion moving on to what could be done to get some power back to Nairnshire. A discussion document prepared by Alistair Noble was very well received and at their next meeting the CCCs will also meet with Nairnshire East, Cawdor and Auldearn community councils. Here's the document from Alistair it may provoke a few comments in Gurnshire too:

Releasing the full potential of the Royal Burgh of Nairn and Nairnshire

It is now accepted that big is no longer beautiful. We are at the start of taking our own community and its care back under local control. Truly acting in the Common Good and making best use of our local resources. It is obvious that Nairnshire is under severe pressure and needs to improve the democratic input into local, Highland and Scottish political decision making.

Our first priority must be to establish a Nairnshire committee which puts Nairnshire’s interests at the heart of all it does. It must clearly establish its working procedures and its relationship with other bodies especially Highland Council and Health Board and the Scottish Government. This must include the four councillors, six community councils, and Nairn partnership including business, tourism, health and social care.

This committee would be tasked with coming up with real solutions to the wide range of problems we have and the financial pressures we are about to encounter.

This would include producing a clear and corporate Nairn Local Plan dealing with the town centre, High Street, bus station, Lochloy, Balmakeith Nairn South, Sandown, Delnies and all the real rural issues.

The committee would become the custodians of the Nairn Common Good and within that have a clear understanding of who is responsible for the Common Good Fund the legal responsibility for the best use of that fund.

The integrated model of care which Nairn has done so much to establish places a great responsibility on us all to ensure that Nairnshire receives its fair share of resource and then we all work together to obtain best value from that resource. This will be within the Integrated Framework Resource model ant the better we can make local services including carers, voluntary and private sector the better will be the care we will all receive.

We could look at setting up a Nairn Housing Association and take forward the NICE thinking around town centre housing including upgrading the potential houses above the shops in the High Street.

This paper is written to help the debate and to encourage a clear strategy to come from the first joint meeting of the three Nairn Community Councils.

Alastair L Noble 6/7/2011

More from the meeting of the Combined Usual Suspects later this week.