Public praised for towns plan
THE people of Wick and Thurso have been praised for taking part in a project to help develop a new vision for their towns.
Highland Council was very pleased with the response from the public at events, known as charrettes, which were held in both places.
The charrettes included well attended workshops held over two days in Thurso and Wick and culminated in report back sessions in Wick on Tuesday and Thurso on Wednesday. Proposals included new development opportunities, regeneration and improvement of key sites in the towns as well as better ways of working together to deliver these proposals.
The charrettes were organised by The Highland Council to enable local communities to influence the future of their town through a new Local Development Plan for Caithness and Sutherland. The outcomes from the charrettes will be reflected in the first stage of the new Plan to be published later this year.
Councillor Gail Ross, Caithness Civic Leader, said: “I would like to thank everyone who made this event possible but most of all the members of the public that turned up to give us their ideas and their vision for the future of Wick. I think the main message was that yes, there is a lot of investment coming to the town in the next few years but we need to make sure as a community that we keep making improvements for future generations to come. We have so much to offer up here, let’s start shouting about it!”
Leader of the Caithness and Sutherland Area, councillor Deirdre Mackay, added: “I think it’s really important to reinforce the value of the process in terms of harnessing people’s ideas and converting them into a real vision for the future.”
