TOWN CENTRE CONSULTATION

Introduction: Highland Council is planning to hold a mini-Charrette event in Nairn that will have a clear focus on identifying the mechanisms for delivering and funding projects that will best deliver town centre regeneration. This proposal is made by The Highland Council in partnership with a number of interested parties, including Community Councils and business groups in each town and plan to work closely with these groups to maximise the involvement of everyone concerned.

The town centre regeneration project will focus on Nairn town centre but will extend to include consideration of its relationship to other important parts of the town including the harbour, The Links, former farmer’s show field and future development areas. It also needs to address wider transport connections and the accessibility of shops and community facilities and services. It will form a consolidated plan for embracing change, delivering town centre regeneration and improvement and the integration of growth areas in the town.

As one of the partners in this consultation the directors of NICE invite the community to participate in this consultation exercise to express what they want the Town Centre to deliver in terms of services and facilities. This is within the area defined by Highland Council as NA7, bounded by the A96, the High St and Leopold St. However, alongside Highland Council, we do not wish to exclude adjacent areas such as the Harbour from consideration and we have prepared the survey questions with this in mind.

Please be mindful of what NICE perceives to be the overall objective – the regeneration of Nairn, more local residents, more employment in Nairn and more visitors. This consultation is ultimately about the community’s shared vision for Nairn and not at this early stage about how that is funded or achieved. We believe Nairn has a unique opportunity given that the Town Centre area is effectively an empty open space at present. In short, we have to plan for the future and the opportunity is there for us to be radical. So, tell us what you think.

This survey builds on NICE’s previous exercise last year. The main outcomes relevant to the Town Centre can be summarised as:
For goodness sake do something!
Nairn needs to offer more employment opportunities
Nairn’s beach is its greatest visitor attraction
A Visitor Information & Orientation Centre is essential to attracting more visitors to stop in Nairn.

Update: With regard to the Old Social Work Building we hope very soon to bring forward firm proposals for consideration by members.

It is important that local views are heard and we urge everyone who has an interest in Nairn’s future to complete the survey.

Click here to take survey