At the West CC meeting last week, the
chair, Rosemary young expressed her regret that Graham Vine had not been re-elected
in November 2011. Rosemary was giving her annual AGM address, she said:
“I sadly miss Graham Vine and as he so
stoically pointed out to me at the time, “It was democracy at its best”.
She continued: "It was really quite good to see the
residents of Nairn turning out and voting because we weren’t elected so to
speak originally - so we definitely are elected this time.”
Rosemary outlined her council’s wish for a
single CC but expressed that it was unlikely to happen now, she said: “…but
we are very pleased that we are working strongly with the other CCs. I think
this is healthy working together.”
The chair then outlined some of the issues
that the group are working on: “We’re still working very hard on issues such as
the town centre, traffic flow, pavements, traffic lights, litter and seagulls –
we have challenges ahead obviously.”
Later the watchdogs discussed a multitude
of traffic issues, including the West End rat run. Top tier boys Colin MacAulay and Michael Green were
present and both of them thought that a 20 m.ph. limit in the rat run zone
would be a good interim measure with Colin wishing to see the 20 m.p.h. limit
elsewhere in Nairn too. River’s Tommy Hogg was also present and he responded to
Cllr Graham Kerr (very prominent in traffic matters) when he said they should
get feedback from other areas. Tommy said: “We’ve actually had the 20 m.p.h
limit in the Fishertown for the last ten years and nobody takes any heed of
it whatsoever!”
There was much more debate on traffic
matters and, as the Westies welcome all comers, their meetings remain a good
venue for anyone in the town with concerns to flag them up in front of Highland
Councillors and the press who are usually in attendance. Gurnites will also be
welcomed with such points at West and River too but the Westies really know how
to talk traffic.
On this particular night Graham Vine was not to be missed and he told the
meeting: “I would like to see somebody do an experiment where we put shrouds on
every traffic light in Nairn and see if the traffic gets better or worse
because I will lay money it gets better without the lights.”
Colin MacAulay pointed out that he and Liz
would like to see the Community Centre site come off the market sooner rather
than later. There are those that would like to see a permanent car park on the
site, a change of policy by Highland Council would be most welcome here. The rush
to sell the site is preventing the community coming up with its own long-term
solution for this important town centre area. Good luck to Liz and Colin in
their efforts to get the new administration in Glenurquhart Road to listen to Nairn on this one.
Well
done Rosemary and the Westies for once again providing a dynamic public arena
for debate.
