The planning committee councillors come to Nairn to see the controversial site of the Springfield proposal for 115 houses at Kingsteps - videos

At the time of writing this article it seems the application has been passed according to reports on social media. Democracy in Nairn amounts in the final analysis to a minibus full of councillors coming to town then to go away and decide what is good for us back in the chamber of their HQ at Glenurquhart Road.

We live in an age where "localism" and "community empowerment" are the spin buzz words. Here at the Gurn we think there has to be a better way to decide how Nairn grows and where housing is built. Decisions have to be made by the community and not by others that don't live here.

Here are some videos of how the site visit went, questions were asked but some were not allowed under the terms of the purpose of a site visit. Have a look at them if you have some spare time and decide for yourself if this is an adequate system for deciding our town's future.