Housing Development in Nairn turns East? 65-70 Houses for Sandown?

Oppps apologies "West" - a bit confused folks, so much in Nairn has gone West already. 

A screening application for 65-70 houses has appeared on the Highland Council website here. 

The application takes in a large area of land on the southern field of the three Sandown Lands fields between the wetland area and Sandown Road, a map can be seen on the site. The application is in the name of the Highland Housing Alliance. Their website here states 

"Highland Housing Alliance (HHA) is a development company dedicated to building and managing a wide variety of good-quality homes for people in the Highlands.

The HHA’s vision is to facilitate and deliver additional good quality housing in the Highlands with a wide range of private and public sector partners and to provide a top quality housing development and management service to our customers."

Further information on the site as follows:

"The Highland Housing Alliance is a development company set up to work in partnership with the Highland Council, housing associations, Scottish Government, private landowners and developers to help build more homes of all tenures for people in the Highlands.

The Highland Housing Alliance’s vision is to facilitate and deliver additional good quality housing in the Highlands with a wide range of private and public sector partners and to provide a top quality housing development and management service to our customers.

The Highland Housing Alliance is owned by five housing associations working in Highland, one housing trust and The Highland Council."

Ploughing the Sandown Lands

The Sandown Lands are owned by the Nairn Common Good Fund and this observer has heard them referred too in the past as "a common good asset" rather than common good land". One would imagine that any potential developer would have been in contact with the Trustees of the Common Good Fund (the Highland Councillors) before submitting any sort of application - and as Highland Council are part owners of the Highland Housing Alliance then it would be hard to imagine that this application might have escaped their notice. 

Obviously our four Nairn Councillors will be bound by commercial confidentiality should any such discussion have taken place or be ongoing but perhaps it may be to everyone's advantage for all parties to be as transparent as protocol permits given the troubled history of previous applications for housing on Sandown.