Our Man in Westminster: Discussion and collective ownership are key for the Inverness 2035 vision and the widespread strength of feeling that whatever the vision looks like, this is the right thing to do for the future of our city is very encouraging
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I want to start this week’s column with a thank you to the team at the Courier for such fantastic coverage of the Inverness Futures Group’s Vision for Inverness.
As per the editorial that accompanied the coverage, the Courier has served the people of Inverness for more than 200 years. As such, the paper is an integral part of our city’s journey into the next decade.
The Inverness Futures Group aimed to set out a bold vision for Inverness to start a conversation, and it has certainly done that. We have all been so encouraged by the response to the report and the sincere enthusiasm from the people of Inverness to map out what our city could be a decade from now.
We have heard positive feedback from residents, local politicians of differing political views, city businesses and organisations and even some national organisations. Some have suggested other areas of ambition not included in the report. Others have enthusiastically asked where to sign up to the vision.
All the suggestions the report has generated are a statement of our collective ambition for Inverness. Perhaps most encouraging has been the widespread strength of feeling that whatever the vision looks like, this is the right thing to do for the future of our city.
More discussion is essential, as is a feeling of collective ownership. Only by doing this together can we be sure that we will be on a path that all, or at least the majority of us, can agree on.
Experience tells us that if there isn’t a willingness to agree on basic principles and chart our route into the future, we will remain a city without a plan. That is why the futures group published this report and why we have written to all major organisations concerned with the city’s future.
Several organisations, including the Inverness Courier, have already shown leadership by agreeing to act as partners in setting the ambition for Inverness. We have a fantastic opportunity to do the right thing and work together to build a better future for our city.
In setting out the Inverness, One City, One Vision report, the Inverness Futures Group made the point: If this is not the right vision for our city, then let us find out what is. That is the task we now have ahead of us and I look forward to working with you all to do just that.
