Moray FLOW-Park public meeting moved from Forres to Findhorn with Nairn Community and Arts Centre as satellite venue due to ‘overwhelming interest’ for debate on controversial development
A forthcoming public meeting about a controversial development on the Moray Firth was forced to a change of venue due to “overwhelming interest”.
Last month, Conservative MSP Tim Eagle announced that an event to discuss plans to use waters off Nairn, Burghead and Findhorn to build a storage facility for wind turbines would be held in Forres at 6pm on Tuesday, November 11.
The Moray FLOW-Park project has since sparked a heated debate, particularly for the potential impact on the local tourism and fishing industries as well as the lack of consultation with local stakeholders.
The amount of people interested in attending has grown so much that it made it necessary to move the meeting to a larger venue, and will now be held at The Universal Hall, The Park, Findhorn, with date and time unchanged.
It will also be live-streamed at the Nairn Community and Arts Centre, which has been added as a satellite venue.
Mr Eagle said: "There has been overwhelming public interest and, as I want to ensure that as many people as possible can participate, I decided to change the venue to the Universal Hall which can offer live-streaming facilities so people can access the meeting at the Nairn Community Centre as well as at Findhorn.
"If intending to attend at the Universal Hall, I would advise people to come reasonably early and, if possible, to share transport to mitigate parking concerns.
"I am very grateful to the Universal Hall for agreeing to host the meeting and for providing the live-streaming facility."
Senior representatives of the developer Offshore Solutions Group (OSG) — including its chief executive WIll Rowley, and of the Crown Estate — will be attending in person and will answer questions put to them by the audience.
Mr Eagle added that he would be happy to accept questions in advance, particularly from people intending to attend at the Nairn venue —-where it won't be possible to take questions.
"I'm keen to facilitate as many questions as possible, including from Nairn as well as Moray, which is why I hope people who are nearer Nairn consider taking the opportunity of joining from the Nairn Community Centre where we plan to have a large screen installed so that people can clearly see and hear the proceedings.”
Advance questions can be lodged by writing to the MSP at tim.eagle.msp@parliament.scot, and those who might rmain unanswered by the end of the meeting will be forwarded to the developer.
Anyone wishing to register their interest in attending can also get in touch with Mr Eagle.