Local councillor speaks about Common Good revelations in Wick
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A councillor for Wick and east Caithness spoke about the "terrific help" received from Highland Council officers regarding common good assets that were recently revealed.
Investigations by the officers found that some of Wick's most prominent sites and historic items had been "misclassified" for decades. Public consultation will take place with a view to creating a common good fund that local councillors believe may be of great benefit to the town.
Councillor Raymond Bremner said: "I wish to reference the terrific help we have had from the council officers who, since they were asked to research some of the areas, have gone on to find others.
"They have been terrific. The whole common good theme is still very fluid and I’m sure other considerations will still be forthcoming but this is a great start."
The list includes land on the north and south sides of Wick River, the town hall, Market Place, Bignold Park, the Camps car park and Green Road playing fields, as well as the charter of the Royal Burgh of Wick from 1589, local government regalia and a number of paintings.
Common good assets are defined as property that belonged to Scotland's former burghs before local government reform in 1975. They are held by councils principally for the benefit of the community of the former burgh in question.
Councillor Bremner said: “It takes a bit of time to get used to the mechanics of Highland Council as the modern organisation it is today, never mind the previous forms it has been in as Caithness County Council, Burgh Council and others over the past periods of history.
"We have heard many local people tell us about their considerations that certain areas were not 'owned' by the council. Over years, it can become a standard line to trot out in answer to such queries by saying 'there’s no common good land' and therefore 'no common good fund' on which it can be based and we are expected to simply accept this. That’s not easy when members of the community are adamant though."
Councillor Bremner said that a number of queries had been raised by ward members over the last three years with regard to the matter and it all came to a head over the consultation on introducing car parking charges at the riverside car park.
"As a member of the council’s redesign board, of which I am now vice chair, I was aware that there were a number of challenges in other areas to the council’s ownership of car parks it was planning to charge on.
"At that time, Wick wasn’t included in the consultation. However, when it came to Wick, we needed absolute confirmation that the riverside car park, if it was to be included in the consultation, needed to be confirmed as in the ownership of the council."
He described how there needed to be "absolute clarity" on the matter so when documents came back stating that the riverside car park was part of common good land he felt justified in backing "the well held to position of the people of the town".
"It then opened up the gates for further investigations to be made. A meeting was held and we listed all our considerations. One of my big queries was around the whole area of car parks along the riverside, including down to the Camps car park. Over the subsequent period of the investigation, that car park area is now considered common good land also.
"Like nearly every project we have tackled, we have been in it for the long run and we have never exhausted our efforts. The list of common good land and assets going forward to public consultation is just the initial results of the investigation kicked off by the riverside car park."
The councillor said that the investigations will continue but stressed it was important that when a resolution happens it is vitally important that the property and assets are properly managed to "minimise the risks".
"We need to ask ourselves questions in respect of how we can make them work for the people of Wick. It will be interesting to hear the views in the forthcoming consultation. We are nowhere near finished the work we started three years ago – it just takes such a huge amount of time, effort and investigation to get anywhere but there’s no ignoring that we are now continuing to see the fruits of our efforts.”
Common good fund revelations hailed as 'major breakthrough' for Wick
