ICYMI: Turnaround brings hope for Nairn’s splash park
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A COUPLE who raised more than £150,000 to transform Nairn’s West Beach play park in memory of their son have received a vital boost from Highland Council.
Sam and Susan Hey’s ambitious plan to turn the paddling pool into a splash park is being backed by Highland Council chief executive Donna Manson, who has appointed one of her senior staff to project manage it.
And she hopes the scheme, made possible by the Heys’ Team Hamish charity founded as a legacy to their eight-year-old son Hamish who died of cancer, will secure planning permission this summer.
The commitment is in strong contrast to the tone of the council just a few months ago when the Heys voiced frustration over the slow turning wheels of local government.
They felt their award-winning scheme was being stalled because the council was not giving it the rubber-stamp to be built on common good owned land.
Mrs Manson told the Nairn Improvement Community Enter-prise (NICE) scheme’s AGM on Thursday evening those kinds of delays were a thing of the past.
She said her decision to spend a “Saturday morning” with the Heys and listen to their concerns about the delay in the planning process had sparked a “lessons learned” exercise to examine “how we as a council can be more responsive to good ideas from our communities”.
She said her current “restructure of the council’s management team” would see a senior manager designated to every area of the Highlands.
And this officer would work hands-on with local community groups to help breathe life into their ambitious community-funded schemes.
She said: “We learned a lot from listening to Susan and Sam and we now have a project team in place [to lead their plan].”
The scheme, which is also being driven by NICE, also includes a longer term plan to transform the putting green area into a seated amphitheatre for open-air events.
Mrs Manson said it was “crucial” to get the splash pool plan in place “as quickly as possible” and when pressed by a member of the audience she said: “possibly this summer”.
“The crucial thing is everything is now in place and things will happen as quickly as possible,” she said.
Speaking after the meeting Mrs Hey said the chief executive’s attendance at the AGM was “the best part of it”.
“Donna’s support since she got recruited to the council’s chief executive post has been incredible,” she said.
“She’s driving this forward for us and it’s exactly what we needed.”
Mr Hey, an architect who self-designed the plans, added: “We have been truly humbled by the generosity of the community of Nairn and from those further afield.”
NICE chairman Alistair Noble told the AGM: “I am very happy to report that I am now seeing a positive way forward. We must work with the new chief executive at Highland Council and we are really pleased to have Donna here tonight.
“Looking forward, we want to be involved in exciting developments in the town centre including Viewfield and the museum, the harbour, and Sandown.
“We owe it to all the previous generations to get this right.”
