'No hidden agendas' – Nairn area council leader calls for united voice on big issues facing the town
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Nairn area leader on the Highland Council, Tom Heggie, has made a plea to the community to move forward with a united voice to try and work out what was best for the people of the town.
His comments came at a meeting of Nairn West and Suburban Community Council, as members maintained their case that the town was being treated unfairly and not receiving an equal share of council resources.
One of the long-running sores has been the use of the Common Good Fund to maintain Nairn’s open spaces.
Moves to market the Sandown Lands for development are also being strongly resisted.
Councillor Heggie said: “It appears whenever there is a discussion about the common good, it is so acrimonious it’s unhelpful and we need to set aside issues which are not relevant. We have to find a way of looking forward for the benefit of the community.”
He added: “I’m fed up of being accused of having hidden agendas.
“I want us to move forward.”
He suggested discussions should take place with the Highland Council’s common good officer about forming a sub group in Nairn to discuss all common good matters.
He suggested the chairpersons of both the town’s community councils could sit on it, along with four other elected members and the ward manager.
He said Nairn BID and Nairn Integrated Community Enterprise should have a voice too.
Community council chairwoman Sheena Baker said this was something that they had been asking for years, and the proposal was welcomed by members.
Member Bill Young said Highland Council’s handling of the Common Good Fund, long before Mr Heggie had become a councillor, was appalling.
He criticised the council for a “cloak-and-dagger” approach to dealings with the fund.
“The only reason we found out about Sandown (the council’s plans to put it on the market again) was through a search in ward minutes,” he said.
