Nairn Swimming Pool – a Distraction?
April 11th, 2010 | 
Author: The review of swimming pools in the Highlands with the potential for closure has focussed the minds and the activities of the community in Nairn. They are rightly concerned about the loss of local facilities as demonstrated by the Facebook campaign and the proliferation of protest letters. But are we being conned?
Too many facilities have been closed in Nairn in recent years or been moved to Inverness. Closing the swimming pool would severely impact on the community and deny young and old alike the opportunity to develop skills or maintain healthy and active living – all with the potential to reduce health costs to the NHS. But that’s someone else’s budget so let’s not worry about that?
Of course the closure of the pool could seriously impact on other facilities along the beach front. Pool staff have responsibility for the paddling pool and the putting green. Will they too be in danger of closing? If they close, is there a future, at least a viable one, for the Links Café? So this is about more than just the pool. It’s the first in a line of dominoes, which if it tumbles will eventually deny Nairn many of its key tourist attractions. Let’s not forget that tourism is our major industry and Highland Council do us no favours if they continue close local facilities.
That said, the hullabaloo over the pool is a complete distraction. We’ve been conned. Hundreds of people have focused their attention on a side show. Highland Council have set local communities against each other, now fighting to ensure their own pool does not close. Shame on them. In effect, what they have done, intentionally or otherwise, is light a number of small bush-fires around Highland Region. Residents have rushed out with their buckets of water to douse the flames. But while we focus attention on our local blaze, we have taken our eyes off the bigger picture – the town hall. OK, we are facing tough economic times but is it credible to believe that we can solve the problem by shutting a couple of swimming pools? No, the real problem is a reckless and cavalier waste of resources right across Highland Region.
For too long the Council has engaged in extravagant and costly schemes. Their executives are in receipt of huge salaries and their golden hand-shakes are obscene. Money is wasted on consultants who fail to adequately consult and who produce reports that a 10-year-old could generate with a minimum of research. It is time we woke-up and realised that the way they do things is no longer acceptable in these cash-strapped times. Councillors need to take more responsibility for the proper use of our money. Too often it’s about doing what earns a few extra brownie points and not enough about doing what’s right.
We have actually got to think again about the way we manage and run Councils. It is time to undertake a serious review of how our taxes are used. Do Highland Council spend too much on vanity projects? There is a shocking waste of resources. Are all the expenses claims fully justified? Can it be right that executives earn more than £100,000 and retire with the kind of money we can only dream about? Surely that’s where we should be focussing our attention rather than being duped into fighting a small fires in our own backyard?
The money we contribute to local government ought to be used to provide important facilities for the community – swimming pools, museums, care homes. If councillors don’t find a better way to deliver our services and do it without putting so much in the pockets of their own executives, then we need other people to represent us. If they are squandering our money in useless projects or funding extravagant salaries then perhaps it’s time to withhold our taxes until they can demonstrate an ability to properly provide for the needs of the community. It’s not their money; it’s ours and they have got too used to thinking it will always be there.
So let’s focus on the real issues – bad management, at times verging on incompetence and costly wage bills for executives and consultants. If we find that none of our local elected representatives voice support for the retention of the local swimming pool then at the very least they should know that they will be looking for another job after the next council elections.
Meantime, it is time to turn your gaze back to Glenurquhart Road and hold its inhabitants to account. Sort that out and the swimming pool will look after itself.
No it isn’t right that executives earn that money, it is obscene. The knife has to go deep into the top echelons at Glenurquhart Rd before anybody’s pool, museum, library or community centre is shut.
It has to be remembered things are only beginning to filter out about potential cuts and the Swimming Pool is getting a lot of attention because that’s the only issue which mentions Nairn specifically at the moment (apart from Review the burial administration function for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Area). Rather than being conned I think people have started to realise what is going on and eyes are beginning to open and see more than the side show. Hopefully the pool issue is only the start of this awakening and the flames from what you describe as small bush fires will grow into something much larger which will eventually surround Glenurquhart Road and burn the fingers of those who started them in the first place.
Yes, we’re going to be in for some painful times, but we have to make sure the right things are being prioritised and not have them prioritised by people who have a vested interest in keeping their own little empires intact
A thought provoking piece.
Action for Planning Transparency was formed to provide focus on planning matters to try to provide a stronger challenge where it was felt there was a democratic deficit. It is not easy to bring people together, not easy for people to find the time to scrutinise and to come to realise just how difficult the problems and issues are.
On a personal note, I too would warn against succumbing to what appears to be a ‘divide and rule’ tactic. This may not of course have been intentional and the decision makers may not have realised the consequences of the actions in terms of polarising communities and distracting them from other important issues. All the CCs from the affected communites could come together of course and challenge the council on this point.
I fail to understand why the three leaders of the Council Administration allowed a document to be published that actually named three Pools that were in line to take a hit – Nairn, Alness and Tain. Did the officials show them this document? Surely Sandy might have noticed that this was unfair to Nairn to single us out from Day 1 of the consultation process?
From the Press and Journal recently Sandy Park is quoted:
‘Highland Council convener Sandy Park said: “I will be looking at all ways to save Nairn swimming pool, but we have to look at the business plan and see if we can be more efficient with the pool.” ‘
From that we can deduce that even Sandy realises that it is a fight to save the Pool, you are right here to mention the wider issues and we should all consider them but the awful possibility that Nairn might be without a swimming pool in the near future is a reality we have to confront and campaign to avoid!
Hear hear to all the above.
Let us have a list of major projects that Highland Council is proposing and vote on whether they are necessary or should take place at all.We could then let go a few of the obscenely paid staff, contractors and consultants working on them.
The ratepayer is not there to fund measures for Councillors and senior staff to aggrandise themselves or to develop their careers.
Back to Basics, Bins, Libraries, Swimming Pools, Museums etc.