Grantown to explore case for returning to Moray
from 'The Strathspey and Badenoch Herald' of Thursday, December 4, 1986.
ARE Grantonians getting a raw deal under Badenoch and Strathspey District Council, and would they be better off back in Moray?
“Yes,” says local historian Mr George Dixon, who claims the people of Grantown always opposed being “dragged into the Highlands”.
“Had their voices been heeded, they would be better off today,” says Mr Dixon.
Grantown Community Council will be asking the public next month whether Grantown should quit the Highlands and return to Moray.
Mr Dixon’s move to take the town back over the boundary has won a hearing from the community council, who want a full debate on the question at their next meeting.
“If the people want to go back to Grampian, it would be for them to decide,” said community councillor Basil Dunlop. “It might certainly be of considerable advantage.”
Mr Dixon claims to have figures proving that the local rate burden would be far less in Moray, even under the proposed new community charge systems.
“Local protests were unheeded, and yet it is clear that had Grantown been in Moray in the 1980s, residents would have paid a great deal less in rates,” he said.
“As it is, they pay more and get very little return, while Moray District Council are preparing to spend £400,000 on a heritage centre for Forres and poor Grantown has nothing.”
Play chute falls to the wreckers
VANDALS have struck again at Grantown’s Mossie Road play park, destroying a children’s chute beyond repair.
This is the third time this year that play equipment in the park has been damaged.
Badenoch and Strathspey District Council have already spent £120 repairing the work of vandals, but this time they cannot even salvage the chute, which would cost around £1,200 to replace.
Nor does the council have the money to replace it, despite the fact it was to have been incorporated in local plans to upgrade the children’s play area.
“We had hoped to keep the chute and utilise it in a slightly safer way, but now we don’t even have it,” said Mrs Patricia Masterton, chairman of the Grantown Play Appeal.
“We are very disappointed and worried by this situation, and will certainly have to be very careful about the kind of equipment we choose for the park.
New round of strikes
LOCAL schools are again likely to be hit by the latest moves in the long-running teachers’ dispute.
A one-day national strike is planned for today (Thursday) by EIS members following the union’s overwhelming rejection of the Scottish Secretary’s wages and conditions offer.
If local EIS members remain as committed to the cause as they have been in previous months, a number of local schools may well be affected.
“We expected a full and sound rejection of the offer, but did not quite realise the absolute depth of feeling,” said local EIS secretary Mr Ken Deans about the national ballot result.
He said that an 84% ‘No’ vote on an 89 per cent turnout meant that almost every parent in the country could consider that their child’s teacher rejected the offer.
Tribute paid to ‘Mr Tourism’
A MAN who has won a reputation as Spey Valley’s ‘Mr Tourism’ now has an added title.
Mr Jack Richmond has become Aviemore and Spey Valley Tourist Board’s first honorary member.
The title, which has meant a change in the board’s rules, is, said vice-chairman Mr Colin Noble, “the highest accolade we can give”.
Its aim, said Mr Noble, was to honour those people who had given outstanding service to tourism.
Ayrshire-born Mr Richmond, of the Badenoch Hotel, Newtonmore, has lived in the Spey Valley for 40 years.
He is founder member of the tourist organisation and a former chairman, and was instrumental in getting the Newtonmore, Dalwhinnie and Laggan ‘Wildcat’ project off the ground.
Board chairman Major Bill Dunlop also made the presentation of a gift to Mr Richmond – wheelchair-bound following an accident – to mark his retirement from the hotel business.
He said: “In the circumstances, it is a miracle he succeeded in running his own business, let alone making such a significant contribution to Spey Valley tourism.”
And Scottish Tourist Board official Mr David McIntrye said that Mr Richmond had added a freshness and quality of thought to Scottish tourism.
Silence over sale sparks row
GRANTOWN’S district councillors have been slammed for failing to reveal the sale of one of the town’s most historic building for housing development.
A “motion of censure” was moved against Councillors Duncan Mackellar and Elizabeth Main last week by Grantown Community Council.
Only last week did community councillors officially discover the sale of Strathspey House – a class ‘A’ listed building – had been agreed by Badenoch and Strathspey District Council in August.
A planning application has now been lodged by new owners McLeod Building to convert the original building and stable into small houses and to erect a new building including more houses.
“We were never told by either councillor that the building was even sold,” said community council chairman Mr Neil Campbell.
“It could, after all, have been bought by someone planning to do something with it which was in harmony with the local heritage centre idea,” said Councillor Basil Dunlop.
“The district council saying they are considering selling the building is very different from a statement that it is to be sold to a developer.”
