On Wednesday night one of the items of planning matters discussed by Tommy Hogg and his colleagues was the new application for the Sandancer building down at the harbour. The changes are outlined in a supporting information to the application available on the Highland Council’s e-planning site. Here’s a brief section from that supporting document that outlines the reasoning behind the new application:
“In the original submitted planning application, the Planning department felt that the proposed design was too domestic in style and that there was an opportunity to have more of a 'landmark/feature' building for the site. Therefore this new revised and larger building now has two full storeys so that at ground floor level there can be more of a direct connection between the building and the public, an Ice Cream and Pizza Parlour has been added which can be accessed directly off of the public path and to the sea (north) side has access onto a small patio area. This now means that in effect the two public elevations of the building have interest and activity. The remainder of the ground floor will be given over to Kitchens, servicing, storage etc. which allow all of the first floor to be a Restaurant area. This first floor level will allow spectacular views from inside the building out over the Moray Firth and out over the Harbour, balconies have also been included to allow a certain amount of outside dining or just to admire the views.”
Tommy and his colleagues discussed the parking arrangements and the management of the area around the Sandancer. The meeting noted that Tommy would discuss matters with the ward manager Liz Cowie as the area comprises common good land. Tommy said:
“Apart from that I’ve not problem at all. It’s long overdue down there, they need someone to tidy the place up a bit.”
The application has so far attracted two objections but also seven letters of support. This material too can be read on the Council’s e-planning site here.
Strong views about the application have also been expressed on a new Facebook page that popped up recently entitled “Building(s) in Nairn”. That page hasn’t been going long but there are some interesting discussions about various Nairn properties.