Tain High Street revamp? Don't raise your hopes says councillor
AN action plan hailed as a blueprint to save Tain High Street from serious decline is pie in the sky without the backing of a big government funder, according to a Highland councillor.
Tain and Easter Ross councillor Fiona Robertson said the fanfare around a town centre regeneration plan rubber-stamped this week gave false hope to residents who believed massive improvements were around the corner.
She said the plans – which include revamping car parks, transforming the Old Picture House into a cinema, theatre and arts hub and giving a new lease of life to Duthac House – would be a pipe dream without support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
"The community in Tain think this is all going to happen and they think the council is going to bring this forward with HIE. We have major concerns over that," she said.
"What we really need is money for a development officer to help us access funds or money for an actual project. That’s what we have repeatedly asked HIE for. We’ve raised it at a number of meetings, saying please give us that kind of funding."
David Oxley, HIE’s acting area manager for the Inner Moray Firth, believes it would be feasible to fund a development officer nut insisted other help and support was available.
Councillor Robertson made her comments during a meeting of the council’s Skye, Ross and Cromarty area committee in Dingwall on Wednesday.
The committee approved the finalised action plan which sets out a vision of how Tain’s town centre should evolve. It will be used to guide planners and developers.
Una Lee, an urban planner for the council, told the committee the message she was getting from HIE was that they were not funding project officer posts.
"They are trying to get community groups to a point where there is a business plan in place," she said.
High on the wishlist are hopes to revamp the Old Picture House into a theatre, cinema and arts complex, similar to Strathpeffer Pavilion.
The plan also sets out to turn Duthac House into a youth hostel, a leisure or respite centre, or a sheriff court and police station, relocating the current courthouse from the High Street.
Creating an attractive space for food markets and outdoor events is also included in the plan, along with hopes to redevelop The Grove for community or tourist use.
Upgrading car parks and better street signage and road markings to improve traffic problems are also on the list.
But Councillor Robertson said the traffic problems could be solved now if the council put in some white and yellow lines where they were most needed.
She said Tain stalwarts worked tirelessly in the town’s best interests, but they were desperately in need of a properly funded project officer who could play a vital role in attracting funders to deliver some of the plans.
"We have a lot of volunteers who work very hard in Tain and are very able but we do need HIE to help us access the funds they have and we really need a development officer to help us access other funds," she said.
"We have had HIE out to ward business meeting, we have suggested projects, we have had business plans drawn up for projects, only to be told by HIE that there is just not the funding available."
Milestones have already been reached, however. Local chef Graham Rooney sought funding to restore the old station building and turn it into a gastropub and family restaurant, which opened earlier this month.
The Platform 1864 restaurant was funded jointly by grants from Transport Scotland’s Station Community Regeneration Fund (SCRF) and the Railway Heritage Trust.
Mr Oxley, from HIE, said: "HIE recognises that the regeneration of Tain town centre is an important issue for the community. After participating in a public consultation event in March, we met local councillors and expressed our willingness to use the powers at our disposal to benefit Tain. While we do not believe that it would be feasible for HIE to fund a development officer post, we have offered to discuss other activities which we could assist."
He said this included supporting the Highlands and Islands social enterprise zone, the support and development agency for social enterprises.
