First meeting for ‘ground-breaking’ pilot group in bid to involve community in future of Nairn Common Good
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Steps to boost community participation in managing Nairn’s Common Good assets have reached a first milestone as a new dedicated engagement group met for the first time last week.
Wednesday (April 24) saw community representatives and elected members meet for the first time to kick-off a pilot initiative which saw the establishment of a Nairn Common Good Engagement Group – a first withing the Highland Council Area.
The group was set up to support and advise councillors in the decision-making process with regards to common good assets in Nairnshire in the hope that the community will be better represented.
Chair of the Nairnshire Area Committee, councillor Michael Green said: “As, it was an honour and indeed a pleasure for me to host the first meeting of the Nairn Common Good stakeholder engagement group.
“It was a ground-breaking meeting enabling local community stakeholders to engage with officers involved in the administration of the Nairn Common Good Fund with a view to working together on issues impacting the future of this important asset focused on bringing benefit to the people of Nairnshire.
“I would like to thank all those who attended especially for the excellent contributions made and the detailed knowledge search shown by members of the community in the workings of our common good fund. I look forward to future meetings and the progress they will bring.”
Until now, the role of the community and Community Councils in relating to the Common Good Fund is statutory consultation, in line with the requirements of the Community Empowerment Act, which contains a duty to consult community councils and community bodies when establishing the asset register and when proposing to dispose of or change the use of common good property.
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The group, set up following a consultation in October 2023 and the creation of a new role for a Common Good Fund officer by Highland Council, aims to set a new model to bring communities on board, after community councils expressed the need for the community to have a stronger role in the Common Good Fund in Nairn.
Although decision-making powers remain to councillors, the engagement group is set to meet ahead of the area committee meetings (every three months) and feed back community input into decisions taken on the Common Good Fund.
Nairn West and Suburban community council member, Joan Noble, said: “I thought it went very well. We started off with introductory presentations from Scottish Land commission and Highland Council common good officer, to give a background to everyone in attendance with regards to the common good, what it is and how it works.
“We then started discussions about how we would work together – how often we would meet, how could we be inclusive to different groups.
“Mostly it was preliminary work, setting the scene on how we’d want to work in the future.
“We streessed the importance of being involved before decisions were made. Up to now, there has been very little involvement in Nairn in the common good so this is a really good step forward.”
