The next Nairn River CC meeting will be held at the Community and Arts Centre at 7 on Wed 19 Sept
Here is the agenda   and the Minutes of our last meeting in  July 2018
(We had no public meeting in August but you will see that our members have been very busy)
You will also notice a new look \’timed\’ agenda.

In light of this year\’s 60% operational funding cut from Highland Council) we aim to

• better coordinate our growing workload  with other Nairnshire Community Councils 
• make more use of our webpage and other channels to share information with local residents
• hold fewer meetings  but improve focus  on key topics of concern to Nairn River residents  where community involvement can make a real difference for Nairn 

Other reading material relating to Wednesday\’s agenda and recent CC activities is below
There is a lot of information here but we\’d encourage all Nairn residents to inform themselves  on current and proposed developments for the town and to get involved so that they can have a say in Nairn\’s future.

Parking Charges
Highland Council Car Parking Redesign paper re proposed parking charges for Nairn

Developer Contributions
Highland Council new Developer Contributions Supplementary Guidance 2018

A letter to Highland Council from Nairn Concerned Residents Group re implications of this new guidance on current and planned developments in Nairn ( including recently approved 115 more houses at Kingsteps/Lochloy)

Community Participation and Empowerment
Action points  from a joint meeting on 13 August between Nairnshire Community Planning Partners and representatives from 4 out of 5 Nairnshire local Community Councils

Highland Council\’s Annual Performance Report 2017/18 on Community Participation Requests
 ( the only one received all year was from Nairn West and Suburban CC- and it was turned down )

Nairn Common Good
Nairn Common Good Fund latest annual report and budget for 2018/19 ( Nairnshire Committee)

Links Development ( Common Good Land)
Links Scoping Report   and Nairn BID report ( from June Nairnshire Committee )
Team Hamish: A Vision for Nairn   and Team Hamish Presentation and Community feedback

Sandown Development ( Common Good Land)
recent press release from Highland Council re proposed Sandown development 

Happy Reading! All welcome to attend our meetings or contact us secretary@nairnrivercc.org   with any  concerns.

The two Nairn  \’town\’ Community Councils ( Nairn River CC and Suburban and West CC)

We are fundraising  to set up a small civic grants fund  for Nairn River Community Council to use to help out local organisations who do good for Nairn.
We are having to do this as our own Highland Council grant was cut this year by 60% and we can no longer give small donations as we have in the past to help fund civic events such as Nairn Games and Xmas lights switch on.
We are trying a new way to do this through crowdfunding and  if you donate a few pounds you also have a chance to win valuable tickets to 2 ( already sold out) local events  –
the legendary Monster Music Bash ( an evening of vintage Nairn rock n blues ) on 15 Sept at the British Legion, 
and for the kids 2 under 18 tickets to see Chris Packham, naturalist and  TV presenter at the Community Centre on Sunday 16th Sept ( part of Nairn Book and Arts Festival)
The JustGiving weblink is here (  sorry link was no working for a couple of days due to technical hitch. All OK now. )
Nairn Civic Events Crowdfunder ( plus free tickets draw)

Webcast of SPAC Planning Meeting 8th August – approving 115 more houses for Lochloy estate 
Here is the webcast of yesterday\’s South Planning Applications Committee (SPAC)  meeting in Inverness which approved  plans for Springfield to build 115 more houses on land belonging to Nairn Councillor Liz MacDonald. This will extend the Lochloy estate to the edge of Kingsteps.
The vote was tied – 5 members for and 5 against.
Cllr Gray the Chairman then used his casting vote,  to approve the plans . 
Of Nairn\’s 2 Councillors on this committee we understand that Cllr Fraser voted against approval, and Cllr Heggie voted in favour.
South Planning Applications Committee 8 Aug 2018 Item 6.1 Springfield Properties NA2 site Kingsteps Nairn
Badgers on the site – Yes or No ?
If you watch the webcast you will hear the Planning Officer responding to wildlife queries from Councillor Heggie and  Green Councillor Pippa Hadley -He states that his understanding is that there are no live badger setts on the proposed development site.
We attach here the Badger Survey and Protection Plan which was commissioned by the developers Springfield to support this planning application
Badger Survey and Protection Plan ( no photos or maps in this googledocs version but can supply as pdf on request
We understand that this survey and plan was posted on the public e planning site with other  documents supporting this Planning Application  last March or April  but was taken down again after only a few days. The survey maps dozens of active and disused badger setts  both on and around the site with the main group of live setts identified near the burn  which runs through the centre of  the site . 
Our understanding from this is that badgers will have to be moved off the site before building can start.  This concern was raised by us and other objectors in writing in planning comments, and also during the site visit where local residents indicated the undergrowth around the burn onsite where a clan of badgers are known to live and often spotted by residents in the area.
As the Badger Survey was a required supporting document for this Application we would have expected that all SPAC members were  briefed on this and supplied with a copy to inform their decision. This may not be the case and since we were familiar with the survey findings, we were extremely surprised to hear the Principal Planning Officer deny the existence of active badgers setts on the site. This clearly contradicts both the Survey and the testimony and photographs of local residents.

SPAC site visit to Lochloy and Kingsteps 8th August  
On the morning of the 8th August before the SPAC meeting took place
South Planning Applications Committee members and Planning Officer made a site visit to Lochloy and Kingsteps  accompanied by  more than 50  local residents who turned out to protest and share their concerns re current and future pressures on local  infrastructure , amenities and the natural environment if further development goes ahead.  Videos of the visit and discussions can be found here
Planning Committee comes to Lochloy and Kingsteps 8 Aug 18

You may recall that Nairn River Community Council submitted a Participation Request to Highland Council at the start of May, following procedures laid out in the Community Empowerment Act.
NRCC Participation Request May 18

We have just heard this week that this request has  been turned down by Highland Council, as not constituting a valid Participation Request, apparently because we did not specify

‘a single outcome’  for our local area which we felt could be improved by our involvement, or specify precisely what improvement we wanted to see.
Instead we chose to submit a ‘global’ request  covering  all outcomes included in the ‘Highland Outcomes Improvement Plan’.

We proposed that consulting with and engaging local communities better in local decision making  on community planning was likely to improve all local outcomes, not just a one.

The  response  we received is here
NRCC Participation Request Response from HC June18

Despite this refusal you will see that we have been offered an opportunity for NRCC Chair and Secretary to join the Chairs and Secretaries of  the other 4  Nairn and Nairnshire Community Councils  at a meeting with local Community Planning Partners after the summer break. This is intended to
‘ clarify roles and responsibilities and  discuss the best way forward for all parties to work together to improve outcomes for Nairn and Nairnshire and its residents’

We hope this will signal more constructive collaboration with the Nairn and Nairnshire Community  Partnership. So far Nairnshire’s 5 Community Councils have not had a single seat or voice at this Community Planning table.  Although members have attended meetings as members of the public, we are not sent meeting papers and not permitted to speak.
When the Partnership was first set up, the omission of Community Councils was challenged, and one seat was offered to be shared among  6 Nairnshire CC’s.  This was not taken up as  not practicable to share for a group which  only meets 4 times a year.

Find below the Agenda and minutes for the upcoming Nairn River Community Council AGM and Ordinary meeting on 20th June 2018 at Nairn Community Centre starting at 7 pm
Agenda NRCC Ordinary meeting 20 June 18

MInutes NRCC 16 May 2018

NRCC AGM agenda 20 June 18

Minutes NRCC AGM Apr 2017

See latest news on Nairn planning applications on our previous posting here
Kingsteps planning decision deferred till Lochloy site visit on 8th August

Plans for 115 homes to be built by Springfield development on Councillor Liz MacDonald\’s land at Kingsteps will go to the planning committee tomorrow 12th June.
See below the planner\’s report,
SPAC 12 Jun18 Item 6.8 Springfield Properties
We feel this report  is inadequate in briefing decision makers on the scale and detail of the many objections to this plan posted on the e planning website,  both from community  groups and residents in Nairn( including NRCC) and from public agencies at Highland level who have raised many concerns about  the impact of this major development on local traffic, drainage, sewerage, wildlife and other local services and infrastructure. The additional housing proposed will swell the Lochloy estate to around 1000 homes with no school or community facilities and only a single access road to the A96 and rest of Nairn.
We have thus today along with 2 residents groups( Kingsteps Residents and Nairn Residents Concern Group), lodged a request for a pre determination hearing so that Nairn community can raise the above concerns directly with Planning committee members to ensure that their decision is properly informed.
We have not been permitted a hearing tomorrow before the SPAC meeting but members will be advised of this request tomorrow and it is possible that the decision on Kingsteps plans will be deferred to allow time for a hearing to take place.

Post Script
Under advice from Highland Council lawyers, on 12 June, South Planning Application Committee members decided not to permit Nairn community representatives a pre-determination hearing  to present their concerns on the Kingsteps plans.
However, a decision on the plans was deferred, because Highland Councillors Heggie and Fraser spoke up for Nairn and managed to secure a \’site visit\’ for SPAC committee members on 8th August to Lochloy/Kingsteps  to see for themselves the potential impacts of the proposed development on Nairn\’s infrastructure and environment.
Lets hope they don\’t get stuck in traffic on the way……

In case you’d like  to know what Community Councillors do between meetings ( apart from reading about ourselves in the Nairnshire and on social media….) we have been quite busy since April

LOCAL DECISIONS AND COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT
We have on Monday 6th May sent out a joint letter  with 5  other Nairn community groups
to  the highest level of Highland Council and the Scottish Government and our elected representatives, to complain about inadequate structures in place to support  consultation and involvement of Nairn communities  in local development and community planning matters.
We are concerned that in Highland the principles of the Community Empowerment Act ( 2015) are not being effectively implemented, with potentially damaging effects for Nairn when decisions are taken  without local consultation and due consideration of  local  priorities and needs.
You can read this letter here
Local Decisions and Community Empowerment joint letter May18

PARTICIPATION REQUEST TO HIGHLAND COUNCIL
We have also today 10 May sent out a Participation Request to Highland Council to request that Nairn River Community Council and the communities it represents are in future fully consulted on all proposed developments,  and action plans relating to all the Outcomes included in the Highland Outcomes Improvement Plan. , with particular focus on the community engagement and consultation outcomes.
Currently the Nairn and Nairnshire Locality Plan – prioritises local consultation only in the context of children and young people which is a start, but clearly not enough.
We are hopeful of a positive response from Highland Council, but are aware of the recent refusal of a previous Participation Request submitted by West and Suburban CC in relation to proposed Parking Charges.
You can read our Participation Request here
NRCC Participation Request May 18

Here is the Agenda for the next meeting of Nairn River Community Council to be held in Nairn Community and Arts Centre at 7 pm on Wednesday 16th May
Agenda NRCC 17 May 2018 
You may also be interested in reading the draft minutes of our last meeting
NRCC Draft Minutes 18 April 2018
We have been busy since April – see our next posting to see what we\’ve been up to…
You can find it here
Local consultation and community empowerment

Nairn River Community Council has recently posted three  planning comments in relation to  current local planning applications. We have  noted a number of longstanding concerns around the pressing need for investment in infrastructure ( roads, drainage, sewerage) , and increased traffic congestion in East Nairn ( A96/Lochloy Road, Merryton junction bottleneck)  .
We have also noted the pressing need for local school and other community provision at Lochloy estate to keep pace with further housing proposed in this area, as Auldearn Primary is now at full capacity, and Millbank will be if all  housing proposed is built. This need only came to our attention in early 2018  after a  visit from a Highland Council Care and Learning official to our February meeting to discuss possible changes in school catchment areas across Nairnshire to accommodate the rapid growth in population at Lochloy.

As all 3 pending applications below will impact on traffic and  add pressure on other infrastructure in Nairn ( drains, sewerage, schools) we are  asking Highland Council Planning committee to consider all three proposals as interlinked. No dates have yet been finalised for these applications to go to SPAC(Planning Committee) and Transport Scotland has asked for more time to review impacts on traffic

Planning comments can be found here with applications on the Highland Council Planning Portal

1/ new development at Sainsbury Site ( McDonalds restaurant and Home Bargains)

2/ pending application for housing Springfield) at Kingsteps/Lochloy (Cllr MacDonald’s land)

3/pending application for housing ( Deveron Homes) at Forres Road (former Morganti house site)