On Wednesday 1 December – Nairn’s 4 Highland Councillors will be asked by Highland Council at the Nairnshire Local Area Committee to review and approve the ‘ Nairn section’ of a proposed new ‘Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan’

See the Agenda here for Thursday 1 Dec Nairnshire Committee.

If Councillors ‘rubber stamp’ the IMFLDP2 for Nairn at this point, this ‘Local Plan’ could be set in stone for a decade by Highland Council in Spring 2022 after a final phase of public consultation.

There are also sections for Cawdor and Auldearn before the Nairnshire Committee for decision- but the wording of the ‘Nairn’ town section which our Highland Councillors are being asked to approve, is as follows

6.11 ‘ In Nairn, the recommendation is to support ongoing regeneration of the town centre
together with larger, strategic development which can deliver the necessary
infrastructure and become fully integrated with the town’s existing built fabric and
transport network. As such, we propose to allocate Nairn Town Centre for a flexible
range of uses and the eastern quarter of the former Showfield and Achareidh for
relatively small-scale housing. The strategic, longer term vision for Nairn includes land
at Granny Barbour Road to the east and Sandown to the west, the latter subject to
ongoing consideration of Common Good Land issues. Both sites are considered to
have the ability to provide the necessary levels of infrastructure to fully address the
impacts of development and integrate them within the town. Despite land at Nairn
South being in close proximity to key facilities, its reallocation is not supported as
significant transport related concerns remain including the ability of the network to
accommodate large scale growth and the deliverability of appropriate solutions.
Although Delnies has an extant planning permission (in principle), it is also not
recommended for reallocation due to it being detached from the town and concerns
over its deliverability’

Earlier in 2021 the draft part of the IMFLDP for Nairn, with priorities similar to above, was rejected by almost everyone from Nairn who submitted comments to the ‘Main Issues Report’ public consultation(Nairn comments linked here). This included the two community councils elected by the public to represent the town- Nairn River CC and Nairn West and Suburban CC.

The current final draft of this ‘new’ Local Development Plan, looks very much like the previous ‘old style’ one for the current decade, despite a completely new Scottish Planning Framework coming into force from 2022, with community led Local Place Planning at its heart.

Local community councils and others have pointed out that the proposed IMFLDP is not fit for purpose, because it does not include any commitments for Nairn over the coming decade, which address new Scottish Government planning priorities of Infrastructure First, a ‘green’ future, and town centre regeneration of existing buildings over out of town new build development.

All these things are needed to ‘future proof’ our town whose roads, drainage, sewerage and community facilities (including health and education) are already not coping with current demands and need serious investment.

The A96 through town is gridlocked, and we have the highest flood risk in Highland outside Inverness with no prevention measures yet on the table yet to protect vulnerable areas like Fishertown, Riverside, Balmakeith and Alton Burn.

The prospect of further ‘developer led’ intensive house building for Nairn before a new A96 bypass is in place(which could be 10 years away beyond the scope of this ‘new’ plan), is unthinkable, with a legacy of problems emerging at Lochloy where 1000 new homes were built on Highland Council’s watch, without delivery of the required infrastructure which a growing community needs (social rented housing, a school, and community facilities, proper access roads).

The two Nairn community councils have sent a joint letter to Nairn’s 4 Councillors in advance of the 1 Dec Nairnshire Committee, to make clear that Nairn’s community deserves better from the local development planning process, than what is currently on the table for IMFLDP2.

We asked that a Local community led Place Plan be developed as a priority to address Nairn’s pressing needs for Infrastructure First and a Green future. This Local Place Plan should inform any future Local Development Plan for the wider Inner Moray Firth area. Not the other way around, as it is clear that ‘top down’ and ‘developer led’ planning has not served Nairn well in the past.

The two Nairn CC’s have asked Councillors to consider their decision carefully on IMFLDP2, taking account of these concerns, and to show local leadership by standing up for Nairn communities.

Joint letter to Nairn Highland Councillors from 2 Nairn CCs

Date: 23 November 2021

To: Nairn Councillors:  T. Heggie, P. Saggers, L. Macdonald, L. Fraser

Dear Highland Councillors of Nairn and Cawdor Ward

INNER MORAY FIRTH LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2

We understand that the Nairnshire Area Committee will consider and be asked to agree the latest recommendations for the IMFLDP – Nairn section – at its next meeting on 1 December, 2021.

Both Nairn Community Councils wish to reiterate our rejection of the ‘old style’ IMFLDP for Nairn as unfit for purpose and not in compliance with the ‘Infrastructure First – Green approach’. The Scottish Government intend the new planning system (National Planning Framework 4) to commence in June 2022 and work is already advanced in Nairn to develop and prepare a Local Place Plan, which should inform the Local Development Plan from the bottom up. Please reflect this in your decision making on 1 December to ensure that any new Local Development Plan adopted fully meets Nairn’s current needs.

The Nairn community is now suffering multiple infrastructure crises due to inadequate provision of roads, water supply, sewage, drainage/flood prevention, schools, doctors/dentists to name but a few.

Nairn is not receiving its fair share of Highland budgets, and this too is now biting hard into the provision of local services and amenities.

Many of these problems have accelerated into crises because of poor decision making by Highland Councillors and significant failures in cohesive local development planning.

For example, Lochloy has seen 1000 new homes built since 2000, accommodating over a quarter of Nairn’s population, and creating significant road congestion in and out of town, with only one access road and no school, no shop nor community facilities on the estate. New residents are experiencing problems with recent sewage overflow and pump failures, water supply and surface drainage issues.

The people of Nairn expect its Ward Councillors and Highland Council to:

• fully embrace and commit to delivering all the principles of the new Scottish planning system;
• comply with the spatial principles for Scotland 2045, contained within the NPF4, soon to be consented by Parliament i.e. Compact Growth, Balanced Development, Conserving and Recycling Assets, Urban and Rural Synergy, and Just Transition;
• proactively support the development of a Local Place Plan for Nairn; and
• commit to and deliver an Infrastructure First approach to all development planning prior to any further major development being considered for Nairn.

Lessons must be learned from Lochloy to prevent any further failures of development planning in Nairn.

We look to you as our Ward Councillors to show local leadership by standing up for Nairn and doing what is right for its residents.

Yours sincerely

Hamish Bain , Chair                                       Alastair Noble  , Vice Chair 

Nairn River Community Council                     Nairn West and Suburban Community Council

Additionally on Monday 29th November Nairn West and Suburban Community Council met and agreed to send an additional message to Highland Councillors prior to their important decision on 1 Dec on IMFLDP2. This calls into question the housing need projections for Nairn in IMFLDP2 which are based on a recently revised Highland wide Housing Needs and Demand Assessment(HNDA) – which has not yet been authorised or approved as ‘robust and credible’ by the appropriate national body.

Email from NWSCC to 4 Nairn Highland Councillors ( 30/11/21)

Dear Councillors,
At NWSCC meeting last night we discussed the housing figures in the proposed IMFDP which you are discussing tomorrow.
I have for three months been asking to see the HNDA on which the figures are normally based, and only today received the necessary papers from Scott Dalgarno after confirming with the director of the Centre for Housing Market Analysis that he had received a copy of HC HNDA and if it had been approved as Robust and Credible.
The answer which I got was that the HNDA draft version 1 was unacceptable, and a second draft had been submitted in October.  This has not yet achieved Robust and Credible certification and therefore reference in the IMFDP to housing figures ‘based on’ the HNDA are totally inappropriate, as the HNDA as of now has no standing.
As you may be aware the HNDA is supposed to be the first building block of a development plan, and the fact that Land allocations are being made without an approved HNDA in place means that the housing figures and land allocations in the plan are based on nothing but supposition and developer pressure.
For instance, the draft HNDA figures for 10 years housing in Nairn are 376.  Somehow in the IMFDP this figure has metamorphosed into 513 with no explanation whatsoever other than ‘policy adjustments’  What policy?  Where is it described?
The policy which is most important to Nairn at present is Infrastructure First, and the fact that you are being asked to approve land allocation for major developments which grossly exceed the housing need before there is any commitment to sort traffic congestion, water and sewage, flooding, schools, health services and environmental issues is totally inappropriate.
NWSCC asks that you take a step back and consider whether Nairn should be going down the route of a local place plan which would address these issues and take a holistic view of the next few years, not a developers charter as we clearly have in the IMFDP.
KInd regards, Joan Noble (on behalf of NWSCC)

See also recent coverage from Inverness Courier Nairnshire Edition of local community council concerns re the serious risks for Nairn of adopting a flawed Local Development Plan which could enable more ‘developer led planning’ to go ahead instead of prioritising ‘Infrastructure First’ and a ‘community led’ approach to local planning.

Here is the Agenda for the next public meeting of Nairn River Community Council

Agenda NRCC Ordinary meeting 17th November 2021

This is also posted in public on the noticeboard at Castle Square

Here at Nairn River we are devastated but not surprised to hear of  yesterday’s  sewage flood at Kingsteps. This  occurred on Wednesday at the newest development at  Lochloy  which we campaigned so hard in 2018 to persuade Highland Council to reject  for reasons exactly like this. 

 As far as we are aware, no homes were actually flooded, but it was a close call which will require a full investigation to make sure it cannot happen again.  Public health risks are considerable and we do not yet know  the wider environmental implications of this  overflow on local water quality or on the nearby salt flats and bird reserve which is a highly vulnerable ecosystem.  And tourist attraction……

As your Community Council we will continue to do all we can, in our statutory role, to speak up for local residents to make sure they receive the standard of public services they are entitled to and have paid for, and to make sure this incident is fully investigated. 

Sadly we saw this one coming, as back in 2018 we expressed detailed community concerns to Highland Council about inadequate drainage and sewerage and other key infrastructure for Lochloy, before these homes at Burnside were consented, and have been hearing ever since the newest houses were completed about repeated failures of sewage pumping, requiring lorries to come and remove the problem, to prevent incidents such as this.

We encourage local residents to continue keeping us informed of any relevant local concerns  so that  we can keep pushing for infrastructure which is   fit for purpose and  for Nairn voices to finally be listened to and taken seriously at Highland HQ . 

The latest article from Inverness Courier about Community Councils continued push for measures to improve drainage infrastructure and reduce flood risk in the Nairn area is here

We will post more factual information here soon to help Nairnites to understand better how this happened, and why the last 119 homes built by Springfield at Lochloy on should never have been consented by the Highland Council

Click here to watch the ‘makeover’ of this Riverside bench.

This was achieved with volunteer effort, donation of wood from a local business, paint from the Council, and coordination by Nairn River CC .

Not everything is about ‘money’……..

We also note this week in the local press another recent example in the Nairn River patch of local people and businesses taking ‘hands on’ action to keep the town looking its best

Get in touch if you have ideas, or offers of help or resources, for other ‘citizen action’ projects to improve Nairn for everyone.

We can help connect you with other local volunteers, community interest groups , and relevant authorities to help make it happen.

Also have a look at our new Environment page for information on threats currently facing Nairn’s natural environment, and ways in which you can get involved as a citizen to keep Nairn beautiful and sustainable for future generations, including how you can do your bit by ‘rewilding’ your garden or neighbourhood.

Nairn River CC is holding an additional special meeting on Wednesday 29th September to discuss proposed new governance structures for Nairn and Nairnshire .

Agenda Special Meeting of NRCC 29th September 2021

The proposed structure for a new Nairn Economic Development Forum to operate in parallel with a new more collaborative, community focussed and outcome driven Nairn and Nairnshire Community Planning Partnership, appears to include proposed disposal of Common Good land at Sandown which belongs to the people of Nairn, which is a matter for the community to decide upon, rather than commercial interests.

Sandown land is an inalienable Nairn Common Good Asset which would require approval from the Sheriff Court for any disposal or change of use. It has recently been the subject of a statutory public consultation ( under the Community Empowerment Act 2015) with 85 out of 98 public responses returning an overwhelming No from the Nairn community to proposed sale of this land at this time.

Having reviewed this response Highland Council has decided to continue consulting for another 12 weeks, stating it wishes to widen the reach of the consultation, and to clarify any public ‘confusion’ about what is proposed.

We have been told by Highland Council elected members and officers, that there are ‘no developers in the wings’ .

However a look at the recently consulted Main Issues Report for the new edition of the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan shows ‘ Sandown Lands’ identified as the only ‘preferred site’ in the whole Nairn area earmarked for intensive housing development.

We have discovered through a Freedom of Information request from Nairnshire Ward Business Meeting minutes ( not normally made publicly available) that Nairn BID, a local business support organisation, not elected by the public, have agreed to play a leading role in a new ‘Nairn Economic Development Forum’ which along with tourism marketing and business network activity , will also comprise a ‘Town Centre Working Group’ and Nairn Jobs Network ( a community led network established during lockdown by local volunteers) )

Nairn BID may well be in the loop with this, but elected Community Councils and other community bodies have received no briefing information from Highland Council, apart from the outline structure tabled at the Nairn and Nairnshire Community Planning Partnership for consideration. The current proposed new structures are below included an outline for Nairn Economic Development Forum and we will refer to these at our Special meeting on 29th September.

Nairn and Nairnshire Community Planning Framework

By the time that Nairn River Community Council meets next Wednesday night in public the Nairnshire ‘Local Area’ Committee ( Nairn’s 4 Highland Councillors) will have made some big decisions affecting Nairn and Cawdor Ward at their quarterly meeting. The agenda published on the Highland Council website a week ahead of this meeting is below

Nairnshire Committee 15th September Agenda

In addition to reviewing regular reports from Housing and Police, plus the Winter Maintenance Plan we want to draw your attention to three key items of public interest which are about to be decided upon by Nairn’s 4 Highland Councillors.

Nairn Common Good Assets latest Quarterly Report

Update on the Sandown Lands( Nairn Common Good) ‘Disposal for Development consultation and proposal for further public consultation

Proposals for spending of £100, 000 Place Based Investment Funding allocated to the Nairn and Cawdor Ward for 2021/22

Nairn Common Good Assets latest Quarterly Report

This report presented by David Haas, Inverness City Area Manager, reveals

a balance of £681,861 usable reserves in the Nairn Common Good fund

a deficit in lettings income of around £12,000 by the year end ( chiefly due to cancellation of Nairn Games ) contributing to a reduced annual surplus of around £35,000

of this it is proposed to allocate £15,000 to annual running costs of the new Splashpad

Councillors are asked as CG Trustees to ‘homologate’ (retrospectively approve) waiving

£ 9464 fees for the Nairn Showies this August (a decision made with no reference to the people of Nairn), and unforeseen spending of around £1800 for removable of dead trees, a vermin cull (Viewfield), repairs to Links Flagpole and Harbour Street toilets.

The rest of the report deals with a condition report for Harbour Street toilets and costings of £12,500 for reinstatement and reopening for remaining 7 weeks of 2021 before winter shut down and future running costs for 2022 (£31,000)

The proposal on the table is to defer a decision on repairing and reopening Harbour Street toilets till early 2022 and ‘save’ £12,000 of Nairn Common Good funds by not reopening them before winter. This makes a key assumption that all costs of repairing and running these toilets ( built on CG land without due legal process by Highland Regional Council and maintained by them for decades) should be met by Nairn Common Good Fund, using almost the entire annual ‘surplus’. Whoever pays, is this a prudent investment, when years of neglect by the Council have left these loos in such disrepair, in a location now highly prone to flooding?

This is all the more surprising in a context where £2.4 million Visitor Management funding has already been spent across Highland this year ( everywhere it seems except Nairn) on improving public toilet facilities, with another £1.5 million available for next year. Here in Nairn the only spending from the Visitor Management fund we have seen has been £25,000 on controversial ‘Charging Infrastructure’ for 3 Common Good car parks.

At Nairn River our reading of the Community Empowerment Act makes clear that neither public toilets not parking arrangements on Nairn Common Good Land are appropriate matters for Highland Councillors or Officers to decide on in private.

Any changes or investment of public funds under consideration in these locations should be open for public consultation, before costly decisions are made, to ensure that all our CG Assets are properly utilised and maintained for the benefit of the people of Nairn and future generations.

Update on the Sandown Lands( Nairn Common Good) ‘Disposal for Development consultation and proposal for further public consultation

In summary Highland Council have looked at the consultation responses from 98 members of the public, 3 completely in favour, 10 with mixed views and the other 85 completely against disposal of Sandown Lands at this time, including Nairn’s two ‘burgh’ community councils, and decided that after such a clear NO from the Nairn public

1/these responses don’t reflect the local community

2/some people from some parts of the community didn’t respond

3/the previous respondents didn’t understand what was proposed

4/More and different questions need to be asked of more people

So an additional consultation period is proposed with a new set of questions

Based on the above reasoning – the new questions and a clarified development brief are designed to get more ‘satisfactory’ answers from more people, in the hope of ‘offsetting’ or even outnumbering the previous responses which opposed disposal of Sandown Lands.

Whether you responded to the first consultation before or not, and whether you support or object to disposal of Sandown Lands- the proposed questions for the second consultation will ask all respondents to provide ‘hypothetical’ answers about what could be developed there if the land were to be sold off for development….

It is also proposed to the Nairnshire Committee that since a review of the Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan is also underway (with Sandown identified as the only ‘preferred’ site for housing development in Nairn) that the Sandown Lands remain included as a potential development site until this second consultation process is concluded.

That is what our 4 Nairn Councillors will be asked to approve next Wednesday.

If you don’t approve let them know before then.

Proposals for spending of £100, 000 Place Based Investment Funding allocated to the Nairn and Cawdor Ward for 2021/22

The proposals in this paper indicate that 100% of Nairn’s allocation of this fund for ‘community led’ place based investment spending has already been earmarked by Nairn’s Councillors (pending a formal decision at this Committee), as follows

1. £25,000 direct funding to Green Hive to support the development of ‘the Seaman’s Hall Community Hub Project’
2. £10,000 Towards ‘play area provision’ -(not specified)
3. £10,000 for accessibility projects within the ward led by the Nairn Access Panel
4. £5000 towards projects to improve health and wellbeing, to be led by the Community Partnership
5. The remaining £50,000 is earmarked for ‘ the development of ‘motorhome infrastructure’ and ‘Town Centre projects’ with proposals to be brought to future Nairnshire Committees for consideration.

£100, 000 was allocated to each Ward in Highland from this new Scottish Government funding stream for this year. However there has been no ‘public’ notification from Ward Councillors that this funding was ‘open for bids’ and we are not aware of any opportunity at Nairnshire level for the public or local community groups to participate in any collaborative dialogue about how this ‘community led’ funding might be spent.

We congratulate Green Hive on securing 25% of the fund for their new venture with the Seaman’s Hall Trustees and we look forward to supporting and participating in collaborative and open public dialogue on how the rest of the funding is invested for the benefit of the wider community.

The Place Based Investment Fund (PBIF)is available for the next 3 years to support the shift from top down planning to ‘Local Place Planning’ by resourcing locally led initiatives

We understand that Highland Council has chosen to focus the first year’s allocation of this funding to tackle the 4 ‘COVID harms’ direct and indirect health impacts, societal and economic impacts.

In other parts of Scotland such as Stirling, the PBIF has been open for ‘local’ bids to ‘support place policy ambitions such as town centre revitalisation, community led regeneration, 20 minute neighbourhoods and community wealth building’ In Aberdeenshire over 2 million pounds will be spent on 14 local projects to ‘transform their localities’ selected by a panel. In Moray Council funding has been targeted on a major infrastructure project to improve Buckie Harbour.

We hope that in future our local Highland Council representatives and Officers charged with supporting the interests of Nairn and Cawdor Ward will take a more transparent approach to allocation of national funding streams by opening them up to the wider community.

Nairn River CC also looks forward to working collaboratively with other Nairnshire community councils under the ‘community friendly’ leadership of our Community Partnership’s new Chair Chief Inspector Jenny Valentine.

The Agenda is below for the next Nairn River CC public meeting is here

NRCC Agenda 15th September.

Members of the Public wishing to attend the NRCC Meeting should send an email to: nrcc.online@outlook.com including their name and postcode.

The invitations will be sent close to the meeting date.

As usual for security reasons NRCC will not admit anonymous individuals or those identifying with something other than their own name to any meeting.

A summary of findings of a community survey of 1000 households at Lochloy, Kingsteps and Merryton is below. The subject was initial designs put forward by Highland Council for an active travel crossing over the railway to Balmakeith.

You will also find below, Nairn River Community Council’s formal submission to the Highland Council consultation on this crossing proposal. We have tried to reflect as Statutory Consultee for the area, the range of views communicated to us by local people, and included the results of the residents survey in our submission.

The Highland Council design team informed us at our emergency community meeting that preliminary crossing designs were now ‘off the table’ pending review of public responses.

PRIMARY ANALYSIS OF LOCHLOY COMMUNITY QUESTIONNAIRE

Survey conducted from 2^nd – 23^rd August 2021

1000 + questionnaires delivered by hand to all homes at Lochloy, Kingsteps, Merryton

No of questionnaires returned 234 – 23.4%

64 (27.4%) supported the proposal

170 (72.6%) DID NOT support the proposal

158 (67.5%) DID NOT consider the proposal was safe for children

54 of the 64 households who supported the proposals considered them safe for children.

Number who responded as being disabled – 29 (12.6%)

Number who supported another road access/exit onto the A96 –   194 (83%) and commented this was the priority for the area.

Drill down analysis – usage and purpose of a bridge to Balmakeith

Of those 64 households who supported the current proposals

17  (26.5%) would use it daily

36  (56.3%) would use it weekly

4  (6.3%) would use it monthly

7 ( 10.9%) less often

53 (82.9%) would use it to access the retail park (not for work)

7  (10.9%) would use it to access a place of work

4  (6.3%) other – walking, cycling or getting to a main bus stop.

Drill down analysis – Community Facilities

Four main suggestions emerged.

83 (36.1%)  Local shop/convenience store

49 (21.3%)  primary school

32 (13.9%) Post box

15 (6.5%) church/community hall

Other suggested community facilities included – GP surgery and clinics, Dentist, chemist, pub, restaurant, tennis courts, skateboard park, gym equipment 

Thanks to all NRCC members who helped coordinate this, and the people of Lochloy/Merryton who assisted with distribution of the surveys and took the trouble to fill them in and return them.

Nairn River Community Council Submission to Highland Council sent 26 August 2021

I.        Introduction/summary

1. On 16^th July Nairn River Community Council were invited to comment on three design concept proposals relating to a railway footbridge from the Lochloy Housing Development to Balmakeith Industrial estate.  Immediate contact was made with local residents who were invited to pass their comments and concerns to the Community Council and to advise as many neighbours as possible.

2. The Nairn River Community Council held a special public meeting on 28th July to listen and to take note of the views and concerns of local residents, particularly those directly impacted by the proposals.  As a result of this meeting a survey questionnaire was drawn up which sought the views not only of the residents of the Lochloy Housing Development but from residents of Kingsteps, Lochloy Road/Avenue etc and Merryton areas in the light of concerns expressed about traffic congestion on Lochloy Road and at the A96 junction.

3. A further special public meeting was arranged by Nairn River Community Council on 9^th August 2021 to update residents and to listen to their further concerns.  

4. The Community Council unanimously reject the three design concept proposals.

5. This response sets out detailed reasons and objections to these proposals which have been supported by the results of a 1000+ household survey of the Lochloy community (copy attached).

II.        Brief Lochloy History

6. Lochloy Housing Development was adopted in the Nairnshire Local Development Plan (NLDP) 2000 as follows –

As part of this initial planning consent and masterplan, came details of the community provisions detailed in the Nairnshire Plan , i.e.  Shop, Primary School, Church/hall, Playparks, Cycle paths, and a Railway Halt.  The railway halt was to be built on the Balmakeith Industrial Estate side and its purpose was to encourage local residents to ‘hop on the train to Inverness/Aberdeen without having to take their car’.  The majority of original homeowners purchased their homes based on these community provisions and the fact that the housing development would be 350 houses.

7. Dealing specifically with the proposals – a railway footbridge, it is important to note that in 2003/4 HIE sold the land which was to be the “landing stage area” at Balmakeith Industrial Estate and Highland Council, later in 2004, gave the Developer consent to build 2 additional bungalows on the land set aside for the railway halt at Sutors Park.

8. 21 years later, no community facilities, except one very small playpark, have materialised.  The primary school land was given to Springfield Properties for housing and local children who should have been attending the Lochloy Primary School now travel to Auldearn Primary.  Highland Council has continued to consent more and more houses without any regard to infrastructure and community facilities for the Lochloy community.

9. More than 1000 homes have now been built in the Lochloy Area, bounded to the north by the only access/exit road and hemmed in to the south by the railway line.  A quick survey of the area has revealed that most properties have at least two cars, some have more.  That means there are at minimum 2000+ vehicles using Lochloy Road.  The A96 Lochloy junction is seriously congested not only at peak times but throughout the day and more so from April to October when the tourist season gets underway.  Traffic congestion and air pollution along the A96 is a major concern to everyone and will only be solved when a Nairn bypass comes along.  When this will happen is still a matter of conjecture with our local MSP, Fergus Ewing advising that it could be at least 2035 before any bypass is opened to traffic.

10. It is against this bad planning and management background that Highland Council, out of the blue after 21 years, have brought forward their design proposals.

III.        Reasons and detailed objections

11. The three design concept proposals are deemed by the local residents to be

• too elaborate and large in terms of scale (approximately 750ft long ramp) and in height (over 35/40ft high);
• too obtrusive;
• unacceptable in appearance
• the wrong concrete structure in the wrong place
• trying to fit a gallon into a pint pot
• a waste of money with very few people using it
• Highland Council trying to solve the major problem of Lochloy, i.e. one access/exit road by trying to squeeze in a footbridge.

12. No thought was given to the devastation such ‘off the wall’ proposals would have on the lives and mental wellbeing of local residents who will be directly affected.  Their homes, a place of sanctuary and peace which they have worked so hard to build, destroyed by a structure which basically serves no purpose and lands in an industrial estate used by HGVs, other heavy plant/equipment and commercial vehicles.

13. Other legitimate and worrying concerns raised were of

• Noise
• daylight and night lighting,
• the ramp being used as a skate park
• privacy
• litter
• graffiti
• security of homes
• safety of footbridge users
• a place for groups of teenagers to gather leading to anti-social behaviour
•  devaluation of house prices and many others.

We understand many residents have already submitted their detailed concerns and views to Highland Council.

14. Highland Council have intimated that they will maintain the built structure.  However, there are no residents who believe this will happen, and based on Highland Council’s inability to provide the community facilities included in the NLDP 21 years ago, residents firmly believe Highland Council will simply abrogate its responsibility the minute it is built, citing scarce resources as the primary reason.

15. The survey conducted supports the views of residents that the footbridge will be little used, is not a safe route for children, and poses serious risks to personal safety and security particularly at night and during the winter months.

IV         The elephant in the room

16. The issue of an alternative access/exit route has been continually sidestepped by Highland Council.  While consenting to more and more houses, they have resisted every request for an alternative route despite the Lochloy area now being home to a quarter of the population of Nairn and over 2000 cars.

Cllr. Laurie Fraser did not support the granting of consent for 117 houses at Meadowlea Phase 3 because he had long considered there was an overwhelming need for an alternative route and improved infrastructure. Unfortunately, this view was not shared by Cllr. Tom Heggie who took the view there was no traffic problems along Lochloy Road/A96 junction and voted for the development.

The residents, who live in Lochloy and who day and daily have to face the congestion along Lochloy Road and at the A96 junction, overwhelmingly consider the priority for the area to be the construction of an alternative access/exit road with a suitable pedestrian/cycle footpath joining the A96 bypass junction at Auldearn.  They consider this the best use of scarce funding and of Lochloy developer contributions.  This solution enables a better traffic flow and an alternative access/exit route for emergency vehicles while at the same time encouraging active travel.

V.        Consultation Process

17. Discussions with Ward Councillors had been on going from August 2019 (Ward Business Meeting minutes obtained via FOI).  It is unclear if Ward Councillors actually know or have visited the location in question.  Neither the Nairnshire Chair nor any Ward Councillor made contact with any resident who would be directly impacted by the proposed structure before the decision was taken to proceed with the design proposals and incur costs.  No Planning Officer contacted any resident directly affected to gauge their views and concerns prior to drawing up the design proposals, despite the area being ‘settled and developed’ for 20 years.

18. The email of 16^th July was the first intimation the Nairn River Community Council, the areas statutory consultee, had received of a ‘one week’ consultation on these design proposals.  Only after the Chair of the NR Community Council discussed the proposal with the Design Engineer did Highland Council publish their design proposals on their website with an extended consultation date to 27 August.

19. The vast majority of residents were unaware of the proposals, particularly as they appeared during the summer vacation period and published only on the Highland Council website.  The majority of residents who responded said they never or very rarely visited the Highland Council website and without receipt of the survey questionnaire, would not have known anything about the proposals.  

20. The overwhelming majority of residents who responded were disappointed that Highland Council had not directly contacted them.

The Nairn River Community Council reaffirms their rejection of the design proposals and as a result of the survey carried out, fully support the residents of the Lochloy area to secure an alternative road route with suitable pedestrian/cycle access adjoining the proposed A96 bypass junction at Auldearn.

The Council and residents of the area formally request a meeting with Nairn’s Ward Councillors to fully discuss this matter BEFORE any further work is undertaken on any proposals.

Yours sincerely,

Hamish Bain

Chair, Nairn River Community Council

You may have seen on Nairn’s local Facebook pages that Nairn BID members/local businesses had been asked by Highland Council whether they wanted more CCTV for Nairn.

Results of a Nairn BID survey of members( pasted below) have been shared by Councillor Saggers who is a member of the Nairn BID board as well as being a Highland Councillor. He has written today to ask the two Nairn community councils the following:

‘The Council has asked the views of the Nairn Business community on the current CCTV coverage in Nairn.  They asked whether the present coverage was sufficient both in terms of whether there were additional sites that should be covered and whether the present monitoring period of 16 hours a day should be increased to 24 hours.

Nairn BID have surveyed their members, results below.   A plan of the current CCTV positions is also attached. If the CCs would like to add the views of their communities, please can you let me have the responses within a fortnight.‘

Nairn BID survey results

There have been 40 responses to Highland Council request to BID for feedback from Nairn businesses. ( around 1 in 10 of BID membership ). 32 ( 80%) wanted more CCTV. Consolidated  answers to the questions are as follows:  (NRCC note: Nairn Station is mentioned by 18 BID members but already has CCTV in place according to Scotrail website)

Nairn River CC are not clear what has prompted the above survey at this time, or what Highland Council decisions (if any) these survey results could be used to ‘justify’ .

SURVEY QUESTIONS posted below show the limited location options offered for ‘more CCTV’ . Interesting also to see Links, Maggot, Harbour car parks categorised as ‘Town Centre’ and the Station offered as an option despite having full Scotrail CCTV provision already.

1/ Is there sufficient CCTV coverage in Nairn?  o Yes o no 

2/ If not where else could CCTV cameras be useful? 

Harbour car park 

Cumming Street car park 

Maggot car park

The Links 

Viewfield 

Other: 

3.Should there be cameras outside the Town centre area? 

Balmakeith Industrial Estate 

Train Station 

Farmers Showfield 

Riverside Park 

No – town centre only is fine 

Other: 

Do you think 16 hours coverage is sufficient or should this be 24 hours coverage? 

16 hours is fine 

24 hours would be better 

Other:  

Cllr Saggers has given Nairn’s two community councils less than 2 weeks to respond to the above findings with ‘community views’. (We were not sent the actual survey)

This is an unfeasibly short window for us to consult the public properly, and report back, as we only meet monthly as a CC, so we will be asking for more time.

The Nairn community was promised by Highland Council this September a full public consultation on Parking Charges on Common Good Land at 3 seafront car parks in Nairn.

CCTV is a secondary topic to that much bigger issue. We do not wish to see it slip through as another ‘parking infrastructure’ cost to be subtracted from any Common Good income which might be raised from Nairn car parks, without the public having had a proper opportunity to consider wider implications for the town of any proposed charging scheme.

Interestingly BID survey results pasted above, from 40 members, reveal some demand for CCTV on the Links/Cumming Street, Maggot and Harbour. It is notable that these 4 Common Good areas, where voluntary parking charges are being trialled, are also 4 our 5 of the only location ‘options’ offered in the survey, Viewfield (also Common Good land) being the only additional one.

It has also been pointed out to us at Nairn River CC that CCTV in car parks can save Highland Council money on parking charges ‘enforcement’, by linking to a vehicle registration recognition system which means parking fine collection can become ‘warden free’ reducing staff costs.

Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but we note that at the April Nairnshire Area Committee (where installation of ‘charging infrastructure’ for the Links etc was approved by Nairn’s Councillors), Shane Manning the Parking Manager, suggested CCTV for these car parks as a possible way to reinvest income raised from Parking on this Common Good Land. You can watch this meeting here on Youtube.

CCTV may well be a good fit with Highland Council’s spending and enforcement plans, but could also reduce parking income ‘left over’ for Nairn’s Common Good fund, to spend on genuinely ‘community led’ requirements, rather than what Highland Council ‘suggests’.

We note that a few BID members have also asked for CCTV at Viewfield, Riverside Park ( both also Common Good land), and Nairn Railway Station (the station is not marked on Highland Council’s CCTV map above but Scotrail website shows that Nairn Station already has CCTV in place.)

Highland Council’s code of practice on CCTV is here if you want to find out more about it.

We will be asking Cllr Saggers and Highland Council for more time to consult the public on CCTV and will aim to feed back in October.

By that time we expect the ‘parking charges’ consultation promised for September 2021 (after a summer of ‘voluntary charging’ ) to have taken place.

That should give Nairn residents a proper and transparent opportunity, with full disclosure by Highland Council of all costs and parking revenue, and consideration of any local problems or trends arising from the current pilot scheme, to review wider issues and implications for parking charges and related security issues such as CCTV, in Nairn’s residential and recreational areas which are also Common Good Land.

If you’d like to read more on what’s happening in Nairn regarding the introduction of ‘voluntary’ parking charges on Nairn Common Good land at seafront car parks See the Answers here, that NRCC got from Highland Council to the ’20 questions’ which we asked earlier in the summer. It looks very much like compulsory charging and installation of CCTV , possibly at Common Good expense, could be the ‘next step’- so do have your say.

If you would like to share your views on this – add a comment below, via our Contact page or by emailing info.nrivercc@gmail.com

Nairn River Community Council recently attended a public online meeting on 2 Sept for Nairn residents to have their say on a proposed major development by Springfield Properties PLC for 1000 new houses in the Granny Barbour’s Road area of East Nairn.

This is a ‘pre-planning consultation’, legally required to last at least 12 weeks, started when the application was lodged with Highland Council on 17th August, but likely to proceed swiftly after that to Highland Council South planning applications committee(SPAC) if there are no public objections raised. If a decision is then made by Highland Councillors at SPAC to approve a development, it can not be appealed by the community afterwards. Only a developer can appeal a decision. (as with Albyn Housing at the Manor, Cawdor Road)

An outline ‘Planning Application Summary’ ( not yet a formal Application for Planning Permission) was lodged on 17th August with Highland Council by Springfield Properties. Neighbours received letters through the door around 28 August – initiating a ‘pre planning’ consultation phase of at least 12 weeks. Our Community Council has not yet been notified of this as Statutory Consultee. (Half the land is on Auldearn CC patch) We are looking into why this is- as it is imperative that local people have the chance to share their views on a development with massive implications for the whole of Nairnshire

Nairn River CC have invited a Springfield representative to attend our next public online meeting on 15th September, and have also asked for face to face consultation opportunities to be arranged at the Community and Arts Centre (to be confirmed) .

See latest information on this ‘developer led’ consultation below on Springfield’s website.

Extract pasted below re ‘next steps’ for the Springfield initial ‘pre consultation’

• You can fill out the feedback form HERE or email Stuart.Morrison@Springfield.co.uk with your feedback before Thursday the 30^th of September 2021.

The next steps:

• Following conclusion of this ( 2 Sept, 7 Oct online) public consultation event, comments will be comprehensively assessed and reviewed. These will be taken into consideration in preparing a detailed application for planning permission;
• The collective comments from these public consultation events will be included in a Pre-Planning Application Public Consultation Report which will accompany the application for planning permission to be submitted to Highland Council.  Such a document is a statutory requirement of the planning application process.
• The planning application will also be accompanied by a Design & Access Statement, a Supporting Planning Statement, a Transportation Assessment, an Ecological Appraisal, an Archaeological Written Scheme of Investigation, Noise Assessment, a Site Investigation Report and a Site Drainage Strategy. 

Please note, comments made to the prospective Applicant do not constitute representations to the Planning Authority.  A further opportunity to make representations to Highland Council will be available following formal submission of the planning application.

Nairn River CC as statutory consultee will be discussing how to respond to this at our next public meeting on 15th September. Please also feed in your views to us to help inform this response at info.nrivercc@gmail.com.

The Scottish Planning Framework best practice requiring local authorities and developers to consult with communities fully for at least 12 weeks, before a proposal goes into the Planning system which normally permits only a 2 week consultation window.

Our Chair has already given an initial statement to the Inverness Courier raising the key point that Nairn’s basic infrastructure is already at bursting point. The town cannot cope with new development on any scale until overdue investment is made to tackle A96 road congestion, and upgrade sewerage, drains, flood defences, schools, and other community facilities to cope with a growing population.

Infrastructure investment, as above, should have kept pace with the last ‘1000 new houses’ built at Lochloy in line with the Scottish Planning Framework’s ‘infrastructure first’ policy. But it has not, with no school or community facilities, and one congested road serving 1000 homes at Lochloy.( more elsewhere on this blog) This infrastructure ‘gap’ must be addressed now, for the whole of East Nairn, which needs the ‘A96 bypass’ in place and other essential services upgraded before any more new housing can be consented by Highland Council.

Adding more pressure to existing stretched infrastructure could lead to more traffic jams, floods, and pollution of air and water, damaging quality of life for all Nairn residents and ruining our fragile natural environment which is also the ‘main attraction’ for visitors.

Please have your say on this proposal which has major implications for Nairn

Public Notice Below from Inverness Courier of Springfield’s ‘pre planning’ consultation open till 30 September

There will be an online opportunity for public to ask Springfield questions on 2 Sept and 7 October. More information on Springfield’s website

As a community council we will be pushing to extend public consultation time to give local people a chance to consider implications of such a major development and communicate their views on what they want for Nairn direct to Highland Council and their 4 Nairn Highland Council elected representatives as well as via their community councils

NAIRN RIVER COMMUNITY COUNCIL 

Comhairle Coimhearsnachd Abhainn Narann 

PLEASE SEE BELOW NOTIFICATION OF A PRE-PLANNING APPLICATION CONSULTATION NOTICE FROM SPRINGFIELD ON GRANNY BARBOUR ROAD AND ADJACENT FIELDS

FROM INVERNESS COURIER

ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT NAIRN RIVER COMMUNITY COUNCIL info.nrivercc@gmail.com