‘Now pay Grantown campaigners’ costs’ says MSP after charge plan is scrapped
Highland councillors have backed down over plans to impose charges on the public for the use of Grantown’s showpiece Square after many months of campaigning against the very idea by the community.
Members of the authority’s Badenoch and Strathspey area committee agreed earlier today to withdraw from the change of use application.
At a special meeting of the committee this morning it was agreed to revert to an invitation-to-pay donation scheme for short-term pitch lets at the Market Square.
A mandatory payment scheme for short-term pitch lets was proposed to grow the Common Good Fund, giving people in Grantown access to funding for the local community.
However, legal action had been launched by the town’s community council with crowdfunding to pay for the fees to block the move - such has been the opposition.
There were fears that charging stallholders could have a huge impact on big events in the town such as Thunder in the Glen, Hogmany in The Square and the Greentown Show.
Now ‘in recognition of the weight of the community reaction’, the local councillors have agreed to withdraw the application.
The members expressed a desire for a position of compromise on the matter of The Square between the community and the Highland Council.
They have said they want to find ways to support the community’s ambitions for The Square, ‘harnessing their energy and enthusiasm to help them deliver on their ambitions for the area’.
Convener of Highland Council, Councillor Bill Lobban, said: “After much consideration, we have decided that it is in the best interests of the local community and the Grantown Common Good Fund to withdraw from the ongoing change of use application process and revert to the previous voluntary donation scheme.
“The intention behind changing the use of the Market Square was to generate additional income for the Grantown Common Good Fund, in the same way that other areas such as Nairn and Dornoch benefit from their Common Good land.
“We consulted with community groups, publicised the consultation locally and held local events in Grantown.
“However, the response to the consultation was extremely low and subsequently it has become clear that there is significant opposition despite the fact that the only people to have benefitted would have been residents of Grantown.
“We will continue to listen to and engage with people in Grantown to understand their position.”
Chair of the area committee, Councillor Russell Jones, said: “In light of the current position, we believe it is of benefit to everyone involved to draw a conclusion to this matter.
“We do not want hardworking local people to feel they have to raise money to oppose a plan that was intended to generate funding for them.
“Collaboration with Grantown Community Council is crucial for community projects to progress and I look forward to working together and finding ways to support the community’s ambitions for The Square.”
The voluntary donation scheme at The Square will take effect immediately.
Highlands regional MSP Edward Mountain (Scottish Conservative) celebrated the capitulation, as he described it.
He praised the efforts of the local community but voiced his disappointment at the effort and expense they have been forced to go to before the Highland Council’s most recent announcement.
He called for the council to fully refund legal costs the community raised in order to fight their case, and to be transparent with the cost of the entire process.
On 26th August 2024, the Highland Council raised an initial writ for authority under 75(2) Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to appropriate the heritable subjects forming part of the Common Good of Grantown.
The land was gifted to the community by the Countess of Seafield in 1966.
Mr Mountain said: “I am delighted that the Highland Council have finally withdrawn their asinine attempted land grab at Grantown.
“I met with members of the local community to protest the Highland Council’s attempted appropriation of the Square in November, last year, when I heard first-hand the expense and effort they have been forced to go in their attempts to retain a valuable local asset.
“The Square is at the heart of the local community, and its governance should remain with local people who clearly have a far better understanding of local needs than the councillors do.
“The next sensible step for the Highland Council would be to refund all of the community’s legal costs, and to be transparent about their own financial outlay over the whole process.”
