Murd's take on the recent town centre charrette

Murd Dunbar wasn't very impressed with the recent charrette that met recently to formulate an action plan for the town centre. He told the Gurn about his experience:

"Let me explain further as to why I walked out. I asked the following: how can you develop and demolish property you don’t own? One of the responses was that we could acquire them by compulsory purchase.

On the subject of making more use of vacant properties my suggestion was to let young couples buy the old community buildings and develop them at their own cost which has a twofold outcome: helping to create housing and still taking in money for the council. That idea received a resounding “no” – those buildings are required for other projects. 

I also asked if someone was to buy it at a reduced price wouldn’t they be the owners of a piece of land in the centre of town worth a lot of money

Why was it necessary to move the bus station? The answer to that was to prevent buses crossing the road and people would not have to cross a busy road. (Do the buses and people only come from one direction?)

I asked if the brae was pedestrianised and there was an accident on St Ninian Road, where would the traffic go? I added that at least one lorry had gone over on to its side at the roundabout in the past. I was told that they could not or would not close the road. 

Can I now point out to the councillor who stated this that this is exactly what happened at Achareidh this week due to an unfortunate accident. 

There are hundreds of cars that go up the brae every week. Has anyone who wishes to close the brae ever bothered to find out where all these vehicles are going and where they would go if the brae was pedestrianised? They would either use the more dangerous option of turning into Gordon Street or cause further congestion at Waverly Road or go down through Fishertown which would not be an option for lorries. 

There may have been some sensible suggestions come out of it but if there is money it would be better spent on the likes of the putting green, paddling pool, etc, for those who do come to Nairn to enjoy what should be made available to them. "