The A96 Corridor Plan
I seem to recall reading somewhere that 70% of employment in the Highlands is in the public sector.
In other words, most people are employed in the Highlands just to administrate it!
I’m not sure how reliable a stat that is, but it certainly would explain why the Scottish Government has been trying for some years to especially push private business in Inverness.
And if it is the case, then certainly it is an argument for development of the A96 corridor.
After all, the Highland’s population is traditionally a shrinking and aging one, with younger folk moving down south for education and employment.
And that’s a situation that needs addressing, because otherwise the Highlands would become an area of shrinking income and rising costs, and that means fewer overall services for everyone.
Developing the A96 corridor certainly makes sense from that perspective – people will come – but I think the single most important point everybody will agree on is that infrastructure needs to be planned for, and planning has to be done intelligently to take account of existing key assets (not least in tourism).
Therefore let development come – let’s make the area a thriving heart for the Highlands, increasing employment and education opportunities, and help people not simply live here if they want, but also contribute through the development of small businesses and other opportunities to provide for the increasing population.
But let’s not spoil the area with high rises and ill-planned developments while they’re at it, and let’s not do the typical council strategy of bring people into the area, and worry about providing relative infrastructure and amenities later on.
Nairn is a real jewel in the Highlands – it should form a part of any plan in a way that preserves and expands upon it’s assets – rather than just be treated as spare land for new suburbs for Inverness.
(Also posted to Gurn comments)
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Hi
Just going over the A96 documents and strategic premise.
However what has caught my most recent attention is the potential reduction in the importance of office development space outside both Inverness and Nairn.
I understand that the Nairnshire reported that a planning officer thought there would be less office space in the Sandown development brief (not part of A96 Corridor as such) and a recent report in the Courier suggests that out of town restaurants may now be the developments of choice in an area previously set aside for office space:
http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/News/New-Inverness-retail-scheme-may-mean-400-jobs-24062011.htm
(The Inverness Retail Park Proposal relates to land in the adopted local plan, so development potential does not revolve solely around the newly planned expansion in the A96.)
The first National Planning Framework (2004?) recognised that Inverness needed to broaden its economic base. It is up to all surely to ensure that the decisions that are taken will provide the economic diversity and security that is required to support all of the areas citizens from 0 to 110.
Oh and then there are the areas around Ness-side; I have local plans spanning 20 years which relate to this area and still no ground has been broken.
Keeping up with developments – pardon the pun – is hard work, but then there is no choice; if we all want to live in good quality places.