IT was first suggested more than 10 years ago and will take another 60 years to complete, but this week the first residents have been moving into Tornagrain, near Inverness, which the developers say is the first new town built in Scotland since the 1960s. They believe the new town will be a special place to live, with homes of the highest standard and a design that nurtures a sense of community.
For the families who are moving into Tornagrain, it will be an exciting time, but the plans have not been without controversy. There are some locals, for example, who would prefer to see the nearby town of Nairn developed instead, which is perfectly understandable at a time when so many Scottish towns are struggling in the face of a lack of investment and the decline of the high street.
And is it any wonder that there is some scepticism about the creation of a new town in Scotland? Sixty years ago, Cumbernauld was designated a new town and, while it was established with good intentions and worked well for some families, especially those who were moving from some of the poorer areas of Glasgow, Cumbernauld’s fortunes have been mixed to say the least. The Brutalist architecture that looked good in principle was disliked by many of the residents and earned the town the infamous Plook on the Plinth award for bad design.
The hope now is that Tornagrain can learn the lessons of communities like Cumbernauld and the initial signs are good. For a start, there is a range of properties from the affordable to the more expensive, which should encourage a mixed community; the developers are also trying to create a town that will make it easy for people to walk or cycle safely without creating the barren areas that were a feature of the new towns of the 1960s.
However, the most important lesson to be taken from the history of Scotland’s new towns is rather different. It is crucial to have an ideal based on sound principles of design, but when it comes to developing the idea and making it real, there is only one voice that really matters – the voice of the people who live there.
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