The citizens of Ardersier are getting into action. An online petition reads:
"The Ardersier & Petty area is fast becoming the place for tourists to visit in Highland. It is a beautiful village with lots of small businesses and a fantastic environment next to the Moray Firth. It has beautiful walks, places for many activities including increasing amount of people using the Moray Firth for water sports. We have a large amount of wildlife here that return year after year to breed and who are safe here. For example: foxes, badgers, increasingly differing species of birds, dolphins, insects, marine plants and life etc which are not found in many other areas."
The change.org page goes on to cite lack of consultation, loss of habit, pollution and other factors concerning the proposed sewage works. It is only natural that the campaigners seek the support of friends and colleagues etc in Nairn. But if we have a look at the Sandown Development Brief which became supplementary planning guidance in 2013 (you can download a copy here) you will find a very illuminating paragraph under the Access and Servicing section:
"7.4. All foul water will require connection to the public sewer. Nairn’s existing sewerage
network has limited capacity both in terms of its network and the receiving sewage works at the
east beach. Later phases are likely to require new sewer connection to the new sewage works
north of Ardersier. The central green spine should act as the principal surface water drainage
area within the site because its levels allow for gravity-based drainage and this could assist in
wetland creation / retention. Adequate long term maintenance of the area as a surface water
drainage device will be required."
So once development gets well underway at Sandown it looks like a lot of the sewage will have to be sent to Ardersier - presumably the Delnies output too, if it went ahead, would have to have sewage pumped over to Ardersier as well. It's not only Nairn's future waste, we asked the campaigners via twitter if development in the airport area was the reasoning behind the proposal and they confirmed it was.
The Ardersier campaign Facebook page is here and the petition is here.
Gurn Comment: Sending Nairn sewage west to Ardersier would solve some of our problems but it is unfair on the receiving community. Is a better solution possible for Nairn and Ardersier?
Gurn Comment: Sending Nairn sewage west to Ardersier would solve some of our problems but it is unfair on the receiving community. Is a better solution possible for Nairn and Ardersier?
2 comments:
The clean waste from the soon to be constructed site at Ardersier will be deposited further out into the Moray Firth, possibily affecting Nairn beaches. This is not just a concern for the residents of Ardersier. Nairn residents should be interested and take heed.
Ardersier is an 18th century conservation village,with single track access which already struggles to cope with the heavy goods traffic. The common is home to rare orchids and insect species. The population is small, and were unaware of the intended WWTW until the marker posts were put up. The 'big boys' have sneaked the planning through- if it was a private housebuild, they wouldn't get away with it : the original planning was 5 years ago, and the scope of development has increased since then. Yes, it could be seen as a solution for Nairn' s developments, but the smell and outflow may become Nairn' s problem too. Ardersier needs Nairn' s support to ask Scottish Water to use a site away from the conservation village, and away from a beautiful and fragile ecosystem that supports rare species. There is plenty land that the developers own already, and an existing WWTW at Allanfearn. What is happening in Ardersier is unfair to the village, and may set a precedent for similar tactics elsewhere.Please support the underdog here, and encourage the businesses that will make huge profits from development of our green spaces to process their poo where they produce it, not miles away in Ardersier bay. It's like the east beach being dug up for a sewage plant for Forres, I think Nairn would say no too.
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