Inverness Common Good Fund
Excellent piece by Helen Paterson in the Inverness Courier on the history of Inverness Common Good Fund, not an easy subject to cover but the article gives a very clear sense of its historic nature. The Common Good Fund, of which the councillors are effectively trustees, dates back hundreds of years, and includes parts of the Longman Industrial Estate, the Ness Islands, the Victorian Market, the Town House (rented to the local authority) and sizeable financial investments.
The article can be found here:
http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4931/
Concerns about how it is applied are not confined to recent years, with a major problem in recent decades being the size to which the Fund has grown as compared to the limited nature of clearly accepted uses.
Highland Council administers eight Common Good Funds inherited from predecessor authorities, with Nairn being in the news recently due to the huge increase in its value as a result of 86 acres of land at Sandown on the western edge of the town being developed for housing. The sale proceeds, which have not been divulged, were in excess of £14 million.
A paper showing the current year’s income and expenditure for Inverness Common Good Fund is at this link (as a PDF document) is here.