The Fastest Growing City In Europe
Six days in to our 30 Days In Europe season and I can't ignore the fact that I live in "the fastest growing city in Europe". That phrase is used so often in Inverness yet I do have some trouble locating its factual origin. I've read predictions that the city is set to grow by 40% in the next ten years by which time the population will have increased to 100,000 people. Again, I'm not sure who has made the calculation and on what basis. I also have trouble working out what is actually powering this growth or why there seems to be such a demand for new houses here.
I have read that Inverness ranks in the top five of 185 British cities for "quality of life". I also met a PhD student who wrote his thesis on the population growth in the Highlands and he suggested that it all stemmed from the various property booms in London. Apparently lots of people sold their flats in London used the cash to fund a Highland dream house with associated land. Then, later in life, they realised it would be more sensible to move closer to a city - and its hospital and doctors - and so moved from rural areas into Inverness.
I don't know if that's true, but I can tell you that the growth remains visible every day of the week. The photograph below shows the construction of a road that will link the southern part of the city with the outlying Milton of Leys area. Sprawl, I think they call it.
But the fastest sprawl in Europe? Hmmm.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~42~RS~)
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JZ,
Yip, that's the Inverness Arc project for you... but hey it's hoped development of the entire 580-acre site will attract £320 million in investment and generate 3000 new jobs... but at what price!
I am interested in what Stewart Nicol intends doing with the existing town centre once the new "central hub" is complete?
Lastly, will the communities of Culloden, Smithton, Balloch and the new residential areas to be developed in the future at Stratton and Ashton remain part of Inverness as we once knew it.
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Before attending Scotland sforemost University I had a while in what was Inverness Technical College and had the joy of looking out the window over a year or so and watching the Kessock Bridge take on what seemed to be a life of its own, once that was completed and the bridges further North it seemed that this particular corner of the Highlands had changed forever.....
But I digress!
JZ raises the most interesting question of all...what is actually powering this growth??
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Concur entirely on both counts and centuries old communities will lose their long established identities even if its only a couple miles differential and all for the "third mall from the Sun" to quote Bill Hicks.
Imagine it... explaining to a visitor, tourist, come what may,
"Where, Culloden? Oh' aye yea cannae miss just head for the new town centre!"
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I'm sorry Jeff but instead of telling us your views about Scotland shouldn't you be getting to grips with the declining state of Radio Scotland?
It's beginning to have that neglected feel about it. Granted it contains some programme gems but it also has some downright stinkers.
Ironically for the BBC service with arguably the best sport programme - on Saturday mornings it also has some of the worst sports journalists whose only interest is football. That's alright if they're confined to football programmes but when there are sports summaries where sports presenters can't be bothered to master the names of sportsmen and women outside of football or where a non-story about Rangers players perhaps playing for Scotland - surely re-visited too often to be regarded as news - leads the summaries then questions should be asked about the quality of the men involved.
And what has happened to the once very good Good Morning Scotland? It has turned into a silly, shallow replica of breakfast TV. Then there are the oldies - so old and tired such as Fred Macaulay and Janice Forsyth shows.
Is there no-one at BBC Radio Scotland who has any ambition any more?
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#4
I disagree entirely. In the face of increasingly niched competition across a growing range of commercial stations, BBC Radio Scotland has had to maintain a very diffcult balancing act - maintining those popular slots where people expect to hear news/info/entertaining stuff about football (for example) whilst at the same time keeping true to the BBC ethos of fairness and balance and the upkeep of certain standards.
I have worked in commercial radio a tad and I know people at the BBC so I have seen the development of the situation into where we are now, and I have to say that Jeff's team have done a remarkable job. Personally I'd like to see a bit more Scots language programming, but I would say that Radio Scotland is the BEST station in the country, and quite possibly the UK.
The ace up their sleeve has been to regularise the various identifiable timeslots with the various 'cafes' and also by having very strong talent hosting the shows. Just compare the BBC Radio Scotland talent with, say, REal Radio or Clyde? I rest my case! Add to that the sophisticated infrastructure they have set up at PQ and you have an entirely killer formula. Lang may yer lums reek, Jeff!
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Thanks for those words of encouragement Jim but let me also acknowledge Lena's criticism. It's the ambition to keep the station moving forward that has prompted our latest audience research. Listeners are telling us to keep refreshing the output, the programmes, the formats and, indeed, some of the on-air talent. But our diverse schedule means there's never a lot of agreement on what those changes should be. Lena's dislike of Good Morning Scotland and football has to be set against the fact that that these are the most popular ptogrammes on the station. Indeed, for, for every programme you ask to be dropped from the schedule, another listener will maintain that it is the most important thing that we provide.
The reintroduction of drama, for example, was done with the knowledge that it was unlikely to get huge audiences but it was an important thing for a public service broadcaster to support.
But the research is telling us that listeners - even those who love the station - support evolution if not revolution. That philosophy will inform our programme plans for this year and next.
That and the belief that we should offer something different from other radio stations in Scotland.
Meanwhile, I promise to have a word with the sports reporters about pronounciation.
Jeff
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I didn't mean to imply that I don't like football it's just that there are so many sports journalists who appear to know little about any sport other than football.
I do like good news programmes and believe Scotland does need quality reporting for obvious reasons. The lunchtime programme, Newsdrive and especially Derek Bateman's Saturday programme are very good but GMS has suffered under its change of presenters. It also has so many interruptions for weather and travel that there's hardly any time for extended discussion. In my view its become a right mess. In fact, I've stopped listening to it altogether, once I recommended it, and listen to Radio 4 instead.
On a positive note I think the Beechgrove Potting Shed superior to Gardeners Question Time and R. Scotland's history output impressive. I also like the photo of Inverness Bridge.
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Are we back to... http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jeffzycinski/2009/04/back_from_the_brink.shtml#P and the issue of the Beebs funding methodologies enabling it with such developments as opposed to Commercial Radio as well with this issue?
Oh & by the way dont we care about urbanisation of our green-belts anymore?
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