‘It’s time to give Nairn its fair share’ – claims that the town is not getting the fair share of Highland Council funding

Claims that Nairn is not receiving its fair share of Highland Council funding have been backed up in an email to a community council by a local member.

Councillor Peter Saggers, in response to a request from Nairn West and Suburban Community Council (NWSCC) to find out what the town was receiving in spending on leisure and recreation, stated: “Regrettably, the notion of ‘fair share’ seems to be alien to Highland Council officers.”

In the email, Cllr Saggers – one of four members from Nairn on the Highland Council – produced figures on council spending on play areas.

The play areas represent one small part of the total leisure and recreation budget.

The figures however reveal that Nairn – which is one of the highest populated towns in the Highlands – received just £4000 in 2019-20 for investment in playgrounds, despite many being closed on grounds of health and safety.

Ross and Cromarty received the highest spend of £62,923.

The one major upside for Nairn has been the opening this year of the Team Hamish splash pad at the Links which has drawn visitors from all over the Highlands.

But that project, replacing an old council-run paddling pool, was funded by the Team Hamish appeal, set up in 2017 following the tragic death through cancer of eight-year-old Hamish Hey, and the Nairn Common Good Fund.

Community councillors have also expressed concern that Highland Council is drawing down funds from the Nairn Common Good Fun to pay for services such as toilets and grass cutting which elsewhere in the region are funded directly from council budgets.

In his letter to the NWSCC, Cllr Saggers wrote: “Regrettably, the notion of a fair share seems to be alien to THC [Highland Council] officers. Much of the allocation of the leisure and recreation budgets are determined by historical spend running through from the time of the district councils.”

Cllr Saggers admitted the council approach is “unjustified and inequitable”.

He noted that Nairn has recently been granted £10,500 from the government’s Place Based Investment Fund towards play parks in the town.

But there are concerns this is only a fraction of the money needing to be invested.

The community council agreed that they should respond to Cllr Saggers, thanking him for his briefing. But members said he, and other Nairn members on Highland Council, should be challenging the situation.

Community councillor Brian Stewart said: “These figures confirm what we have known all along that, in the words of another member of this community council, Nairn is not getting its ‘fair share’.

“This is only one element of a multimillion-pound leisure and recreation budget. Cllr Saggers seems to recognise we were being short-changed but didn’t think there was anything he could do about it.”

Mr Stewart added: “Our councillors on Highland Council should be doing everything in their power to fight our corner.

“We are grateful to Cllr Saggers for this response but would encourage and support him to try and get the situation changed.

“Our Common Good is being charged at every turn for services which in other areas are funded by the council. For example, it is proposed that the maintenance and running costs of the Team Hamish splash pad will be wholly met from the Common Good Fund. This represents a massive burden on the Common Good over the next 20 years or more.

“Elsewhere in the region, children’s pools, community centres and other public recreational facilities are maintained by the council.

“Here in Nairn we have a a fantastic community centre whose grant-funding from Highland Council was recently cut to zero. This does not seem fair or right.”

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